An Old Flame and A Cool Breeze
by Trayusk
Summary: Damian Laapis is a young hunter with a strange history. Strange in the fact that he can't remember it, before roughly four years ago. He spent his time at an orphanage in Mistral, fighting in the Mistral Tournament for the past three years and is now on his way to Beacon. Follow him as he makes new friends, unlocks his past, and fights enemies both new and old.
1. Chapter 1

**Alright guys, I'm new here and this is my first Fanfiction ever. It follows the story of Damian Laapis, a new student at Beacon Academy at the same time as teams RWBY and JNPR. You know the drill, I didn't create RWBY the series, just my specific character and some of his friends. So please, rate and review to your hearts content, happy reading!  
-t**

CHAPTER ONE:

I woke up at 4:37 in the morning and couldn't decide to be excited or devastated.  
I settled on frustrated.  
Today was the day I left my home for Beacon Academy, the shining light in my dreams for the past few months. Today I got to start learning to be a hunter, and to fight against the Grimm around the world.  
And today was the day I had to wait 12 freaking hours to do it, because my subconscious decided that I'd had enough sleep and needed 12 hours to prepare for it.

My subconscious is a jerk.

I sighed heavily as I slid out of bed and began putting on clothes. I had half a notion to sneak into the sparring ring and fight some drones, when I realized that I was attempting to pull my shirt onto my legs. _Maybe I could TRY to sleep... _I glanced ruefully at my bed before deciding that sleep wouldn't be forthcoming this morning. Might as well get some training in before the airship filled with all the people judging you, right?

Before we get sucked into this, maybe you should know who you're dealing with. My name is Damian Laapis, and I kill monsters. Haha, I've always wanted to say that, but the opportunity doesn't come up as often as you might think. I stand about 5'9" with brown hair and brown eyes, or some people say hazel. Beacon Academy is a premier school for Hunters looking for higher education, and I had gotten in somehow. Being homeschooled is pretty uncommon for Hunters, most of whom have to go to prep-academies just to get into a secondary school, but here in Mistral if you compete in the Mistral Tournament, and do good, you're automatically advanced to the next "school year". I've been abusing that loophole for the past three years, making it all the way to Beacon without having to step foot in a school mostly because I hate schools. To be more specific, I hate the short-sighted teachers and students who inhabit schools, and they've made it clear that they hate people of my, ah, unique descent. I'm not completely human, or at least I don't look like it. I have four ears and a tail, the extra bits being a part of my Otter faunus heritage. Unfortunatley, Otter's are some of the more notorious thieves and murderers, and that makes the world assume we're all cut from the same clothe. I just really like to swim, and happen to be a heck of a lot more nimble than the rest of you mere mortals which makes fighting and Hunting pretty easy for me. Now, back to where you found me...

The Mistral Region's Official Tournament Training Center was state of the art. I had to admire that, even as its central computing system began analyzing my style in an attempt to find the best way to kill me. I stood in the middle of an empty arena, holding my sword and shield, Battlewing and Splinterstorm respectively, straight out from my sides. My shield is round, about two feet across, and spirals down into a gauntlet that straps onto my left forearm. C_ircumgyratio Procellæ _was engraved on the shield face along with a stylized drop of water being held by trembling air waves, both in such a way that they showed whether the weapon was shifted into a gauntlet or a shield. Yeah, my shield is a weapon too, not just by bashing people with it either. The edges of the shield aren't a perfect circle, instead they form four points with razor edges between them so I can slash or block if I need to. The outline looks like a hurricane with four very thick arms, that's the best I can describe it as. Battlewing was a far more intricate weapon than Splinterstorm, and it was engraved with _Et Alas Bellum_, as well as another of my symbol, the water droplet in air. Battlewing took the form of a longer than average greek leaf-bladed sword, with a considerably wider point than average. This made piercing armor a little more difficult, but still doable with enough power, while strengthening the blade an incredible amount. Battlewing also mechashifts into a second, more powerful form, a fact the computer soon registered with a blinking light and a tone.  
'PLEASE SHIFT WEAPON TO CONTINUE APTITUDE SCAN'.  
I smiled a bit to myself, and obliged. Battlewing's hilt twisted under my hand, while the blade lengthened and folded in on itself, becoming a fourteen foot long spear with a wide tip, also good for both stabbing and slashing. The base of the spear featured a heavy lump weight that housed a small dust port. The tip of the spear had a surprise as well, but the computer's limited knowledge of weapon crafting and my own ingenuity hid it well, to my satisfaction. Of course,tricking a computer was easy, tricking an opponent was a lot more difficult. Only time would tell if people began to catch on to my weapon's secret weapon.

'APTITUDE SCAN COMPLETE. RECCOMENDED MAXIMUM THREAT LEVEL, EIGHTY-THREE PERCENT.'

This made me pause. Eighty three was beyond the capacity for multiple enemies, which meant that I would have to watch my back extra hard. Whoever programmed the combat system took sick pleasure in having small enemies capture your attention, then spawning a boss three feet behind you. I normally scored around a seventy-eight or so, which gave me the most difficult solo battles. The Mistral Tournament was all single battles, so I had never bothered to try and get passed it... I guess now would be a good time to try.

I shifted Battlewing back into a sword, and Splinterstorm back into a gauntlet knowing the fight would start off slow. I was right, and I watched a single nearly full-grown Beowulf spring to life before me.

It grew up from the ground, clawing its way out from the cement floor of the arena. If you looked close, you could see as the tiny mechabots that made the thing aligned themselves with others to form muscles, packed around a simplified skeleton of hardened 'bots, slowly being surrounded by smooth black skin 'bots, that changed colors to show where the bone plates and ridges of a real Grimm creature would be.

I backed up to the wall, not wanting to get ambushed early, and waited. The beowulf swiftly found me with it's painted on eyes and roared, trying to frighten me. Sometimes it gets the trainees, but not me.

I held my ground with my sword up in front of me in a two handed grip, at a forty-five to the floor. Lowering my center of mass, I prepped myself for a fight. _This... _I thought to myself _This is gonna be good. _

The beowulf charged, claws swinging in from both sides as I rolled under its spread legs and sprang up behind it. Before it could turn, I stabbed Battlewing into the unprotected back of its neck, and watched as it crumbled into thousands of tiny mechabots. The stream of 'bots quickly formed into two more piles however, and two more fully grown beowulfs joined the fray. I exposed a brief smile and charged the first one before it had completely gotten out of the ground, timing my stroke to cut off its head just as it became vulnerable to attack and thereby ensuring I wouldn't get a penalty. The next one had its left arm amputated before being disemboweled, and the three after that were cut in half in one stroke, through the first's head, the second's armpits, and the third's waist. After that though, things got hectic: seven more boiling spawn point formed, this time with the heavily armored Ursa coming at me.

Shit. Ursa were much tougher than Beowulf, but they could dish out as much as they took. I quickly shifted Splinterstorm out, then headed to the biggest empty space. They'd have to fight to get close to me through the others trying to kill me.

While the first five Ursa were still up, there wasn't much space. I ended up ducking and rolling a lot, and as a result of their wide, hard to turn stance most of the took slices to the back and disintegrated, but the last two teamed up and both pounced at the same time, massive glittering claws aimed at my general bodily area. If I took even one hit, I'd be skewered.

Time slowed down as even more adrenaline flooded my system, and I looked for a path out. Left was out, blocked by an enormous torso, right equally so by a large forearm. That left...  
I closed my eyes and jumped straight up, as high as I could, spring-boarding off the sweeping arm of one of the Ursa to give me more height. I pumped my aura into the air underneath me, flinging me into the heights of the arena, jumping far higher than anyone on physical power possibly could, while at the same time shifting Battlewing into the massive spear I favored. I flew upward, did a neat flip, and pushed out with my aura at the ceiling, screaming downward in a spiral with spear pointed downward and my shield carving dents in the air as I fell straight _into_ the piled pair of Ursa, my spear tip plunging through the first one's skull and continuing through into the lower one's chest cavity, literally ripping the two of them apart.

The computer beeped at me, and the walls informed me that it had increased the threat level to eighty-four percent. I only grinned in response, lifting my spear into position and beginning to spin through the ranks of enemies spawning, slashing left, stabbing at those that tried to tackle me, and spinning with Splinterstorm to inflict nasty slashes upon flank after flank. The floor was littered with rolling mechabots as the creatures they attempted to create were destroyed just as fast as they appeared. After a few more minutes of fighting, I was tiring quickly and the horde of creatures was only beginning to die out. Endurance was a problem I'd always had, never able to go all out for long periods of time. Wait...  
Shit. Not like that! I just... ugh.

Finally the tide of creatures stuttered to a halt, as the last Boarbatusk was deflected by my shield and a kick, then flipped onto its back by a handy gust of wind and obliterated. I gasped for breath, and noticed that the Threat Level had somehow creeped its way up to eighty-seven without me noticing. I backed into the wall and leaned against it for support, trying to regain my energy as quickly as possible. My aura couldn't block attacks, unless they were airborne projectiles, and it couldn't heal me. Every minor hit I'd taken was right there with me, pulsing along with my heartbeat like a second suit of bruises. I was losing focus, getting reckless. I needed to calm down. There was something important about the number eighty-six, something I needed to remember. But I was at eighty-seven. Danger passed then, my wandering mind decided.

I continued leaning on the wall for support, watching for any movement of mechabots on the floor.

Which is why I initially didn't see the gargantuan head of a King Taipan fly out the wall on my right, and twist around to orient on me. I only noticed it when its body hit the floor, as its tail flew out of the wall in a storm of 'bots, but by that time its head was already halfway through a lunge at me and I wasn't blocking it. I saw its mouth open, fangs an eternity long each, all seeming to reach for my throat as I flinched backward and tried to roll away, but up against the wall as I was there was no where for me to go. The King Taipan hit me like a wrecking ball (wreeeeecking baaaalllllll) and I flashed into unconsciousness as its fangs closed around my head.

I woke up to the computer beeping rhythmically, its report of my battle clearly displayed all over the walls. I was good at combat with several enemies, but anything much more than five tended to disorient me, as I try to focus on all of them at once. Once my focus is down, it is relatively easy to knock me out with one large threat, that I would have been able to beat at full strength.  
Also prevalently displayed along the walls was a countdown of how long I'd been unconscious (oof) and a large, friendly looking message that chilled me to the core.  
'DO NOT WORRY. MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS ARE ON THEIR WAY TO ASSIST YOU. HAVE A NICE DAY!'  
But I had snuck in. The center wasn't supposed to be open for another, I did some math in my head, forty-seven minutes. I had already been out for about eight minutes, which gave the "professionals" eight minutes too many to get here. I had to make a choice, either to get out and eventually face this later when the aptitude scans were evaluated, or confront it now and face the consequences. Which, altogether I reasoned, shouldn't be that bad. I was one of few given permission to use the facility without over watch, due to my prowess in the last three Mistral Tournaments, but that was during open hours, which this wasn't. I could lose my credentials with the center, and maybe have to pay a fine for breaking in, or do some community service. Or both. But I was leaving for Beacon in six hours and ten minutes now, which meant that punishment would have to be dealt with over telecommunication.  
I sighed and went out to wait in the lobby, where the EMTs would certainly come through. As I sat in the darkened room, waiting for my fate, a thought came over me.

The room was dark. The room... was _dark. _I suddenly leapt up and sprinted for the arena doors, kicking them open and examining the computer description on the wall.  
..._scans your body and weapons to determine...will cut away simulation if you ever come into danger...sends out a report to the main office computer, which can then relay medical authorities to your plight... _Wait, there it was! The combat computer was separated from the main office computer, all it did was tell that computer that I needed help! It couldn't call them itself, it just sends a message! But since the power in the main office was out, the lights and all the computers hardwired to the secure system being off, that meant the main computer was powered down as well. No message had been sent! No one was coming, except the people o the opening shift. I had to get out of here fast, but if I did I was home free! Excitement and relief swept through me as I collected my gear and dove through a window opening into a covered courtyard. Jumping over the back fence was easier than walking, as was sneaking back onto public streets. No one spared a glance at me as I walked several blocks back to my home and soon I was back in my room grinning like a fool.

Stretching tiredly, I set my alarm for a two hour nap, and quickly went back to sleep.

**Like it? Hate it? Either way, please feel free to let me know! I believe those beloved review buttons are somewhere around here :D**


	2. A Close Call

**Chapter Dos is a lot longer than chapter one! A lot happens here, setting up for some important things to come later :D Happy Reading!  
-t**

CHAPTER TWO 

I woke to a rude woman blowing in my ears. It was extremely uncomfortable, especially for my smaller fur covered ones, and I jolted awake with an indignant "Gah, what the hell?" Except with my sleep muddled voice it probably sounded more like 'GAHwhatsmm'ell?' Matron Lucida stood over me with an unhappy expression on her face.

"You were supposed to be up an hour ago. How will we go through all your damn lists when you're late? Huh? You tell me that."

"Harsh wake up Ms. Lucida, even for you. Blowing in my ears? You know how I hate that." I continued in an unworried tone. Matron Lucida and I go back several years, a longer story than I have time for here.

"Up! Get up, you lazy lump! You have to get everything you own out the door with you when you get on that air contraption today. Monty knows you can't have the staff traipsing up and down the stairs carrying who knows what for hours on end!

I huffed under my breath, sure that there wasn't going to be a problem. It's not like I own a lot of stuff, the orphanage can barely afford to pay for all the kids food, let alone decorating expenses. Yeah, look, I know living in an orphanage when you're seventeen (I think) is a little strange, but I'm going to Beacon. So it's sorted out. As to how I _got _in the orphanage, that's part of that longer story. Maybe I'll even tell you sometime.

"You can relax Lucinda, as you can see everything I own is packed up into that bag there. That one bag. That I can carry all by myself." I grinned at her, amused by her anxiety. I knew she was just worried about me, and it was coming off as her usual standoffishness. I'd been a regular living here for four years, longer than most anyone else and now I was leaving. Matron Lucinda was wringing her hands, looking around to make sure I'd gotten absolutely everything, but she stopped when she saw me looking, then smiled and chuckled to herself.

"Well, it's not like we can't send it out to you when you get there anyway. Now go get a shower, you smell like you were fighting pigs in the garbage heap all night." To this I chuckled nervously, and she sent me a roll of her eyes in response. Perhaps I hadn't been as sneaky as I'd thought, but I didn't think it would matter. The matrons all knew I could take care of myself, and none of them would want me to get in trouble, and end up having to stay even longer. No, I'd been a burden on society long enough, it was time to repay some of my dues.

Plus I got to beat up monsters, which was incredibly fun.

The matrons all crowded around me to say goodbye when the cab got to the door, and I was bombarded with well meaning but slightly suffocating remarks. I endured as best I could, until Ms. Lucida tried to give me some airsickness pills "just in case". I had to laugh at that, and that broke the somber moment nicely. I mean, for a guy who's whole semblance was over _air, _airsickness didn't seem like a big threat. "But those air contraptions, you never know..." she said, while I reassured her that I would be fine. Most of the older generation didn't entirely trust the new generation of Dust technology, and she was definitely one of them. I finally 'yes ma'am'd and 'thank you kindly'd out the door and into the waiting cab, on my way to the airship terminal. Because I was so far into Mistral, I would have to take a smaller dust shuttle over to a larger terminal in Vale, where I would make the flight to Beacon. I didn't know it yet, but that would also give someone else the opportunity they'd been looking for to talk to me. It was not a pleasant conversation.  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I stood gawking at the tiny signs above my head, trying to read the illegible scrawl someone thought was writing. It didn't make any _sense. _My transport was supposed to take off in forty-five minutes, and I wasn't even in the right terminal, let alone boarded. The crowds of the shuttleport swarmed around me, most them just as lost and uncomfortable as me. It wasn't my fault though, it was mostly due to the method of signage here, which was pretty much nonexistent. I bit back a frustrated sigh, then started when someone tapped my shoulder.

"Hello Damian" said a hesitant voice.

I turned and saw my biggest rival, wearing a grin that didn't completely hide her nervousness from me. Of course, her being my inspiration for weapons building, the victor of the Mistral Tournament for three years in a row, and my ex-girlfriend, I ought to know why, hadn't I?

"Hey Pyrrha. How've you been? You grew your hair out."

Her grin widened perceptibly, now that she was at ease with my polite responses. "Have you found where the shuttle is yet? I haven't been able to find any directions here, this signage is awful."

I grinned at the remark, the frustration evident in her sentence personified my feeling perfectly. "No, I thought that's what I was reading but now I'm not so sure" I said as I gestured at the ceiling. "It seems to say something about luggage, but that's all I can make out. Your eyes are better than mine, why don't you take a look?"

Pyrrha said nothing, instead peering at the ceiling in response. She let out a brief laugh, then shook her head "This is directions to the nearest restroom Damian. I don't even know how you got luggage out of that, it says 'Commode'." I watched her grin at my forlorn expression, wishing she wouldn't tease me but enjoying it at the same time. "C'mon hopeless. You go left and I'll go right, whoever finds the way first comes to get the other, agreed? Good." She walked off without waiting for an answer, knowing me well enough to understand that those had been my exact thoughts. I grumbled well meant rude things to her and smiled as I walked off to find the flight to our new home.

_Perhaps... perhaps things aren't completely unsalvageable between us. We're still friendly, let's see where this leads. _Entertaining such notions while searching for the missing flight, I felt another tap on my shoulder, and blushed for no real reason. "Hey, did you find it? No luck over here, I- oh, I'm sorry sir, did you need something?" I bumbled over my words as I turned around and found a handsomely dressed man standing before me.

"Hello young man, it seems to me that you are looking for something? Perhaps I can help." The man was dressed in a uniform with a stylized shuttle insignia on his left lapel. Figuring he must have been an employee of the shuttleport, I decided to follow him.

"Yeah, there's supposed to be a shuttle leaving for students of Beacon Academy soon, right? I'm trying to find it, and failing miserably I might add." He chuckled before saying  
"Yes, I know how difficult it can be to find things here. The shuttle you're looking for is this way, if you'll follow me." Squeezing through the crowds behind this guy was harder than I expected, and it came as a relief when we entered a small passageway with no one in it. We kept walking, through a small maze of corridors before I began worrying about something.

This guy didn't really fit with his surroundings. He wore a clean cut, handsomely styled suit with a nice tie, and his shoes were extremely shiny. Looking around at the messy, grease stained walls and floors I asked "Where exactly are we going? I thought the shuttle was supposed to be back in the terminals."  
I'll give him credit, the man didn't miss a beat in replying "The shuttle is in the terminal, but it's boarding soon and you were on the wrong side of the shuttleport. We're going through the maintenance serviceways to get you over there on time." He glanced ruefully back at me before adding "I guess I should have warned you it'd be a mess, but I just wanted you to be on time. We take our customers time seriously here."

I shut up, mollified, and hoping that Pyrrha would find it soon too, because I wasn't paying attention during the first few turns and had no idea how to get out. Still, something was bothering me about the guy I was following. He seemed really well put together to be working at this hellhole of a shuttleport.  
"How far away was I?" I ask jokingly, hoping we'd be there soon. The guy doesn't say anything, leading me deeper into the maze.

I get pretty worried when I see a sign on the wall with the shuttleport's safety regulations on it. On the bottom of the dirty, yellow paper is the shuttleport's symbol, a Dustplane sillouhetted against the waning moon.

It doesn't match the one on my guide's lapel.

Fuck me.

I started to draw a throwing knife out of my bag, trying to keep it out of the sight of my "guide", which was pretty easy since he was walking with his back turned to me. I guess I did a good job, because he didn't see it. I had it in my hand, and another half drawn when we rounded a corner into a dead end. He spun to face me with a forlorn expression, saying "Oh, crap, I'm sorry. I took a wrong turn back there, we need to go the other way." He went to step past me, his arm hidden behind his back. The instant he was beside me, he swung at the side of my head with an improvised cosh, hoping to knock me out.  
Thanks to my paranoia, I'd already suffused the air around me with my aura, and it allowed me much quicker reactions than normal. The cosh flew through where my head had just been, and before my would-be captor knew I was after him, I'd already gotten behind him and put one of my blades to his throat.

"You want to tell me what you planned?" I asked, after making my voice as angry as possible. I didn't really have to try that hard. "Let me answer for you, you wanted to find some lone hunter on his way to the academy, and shanghai him out of all his things right? Boy, did you pick the wrong mark. I'll admit, most hunters have it good, but I have everything in my bag and that's it." I pressed the knife into his neck a little harder than was strictly necessary, and was about to knock him out when he started chuckling. The smile on his face did not match what I thought would happen if I got to this point, and I was confused.

Look, holding people at knifepoint is not something I really practice. In fact, this was the first time I'd ever used a knife on something other than a Grimm drone, and I hoped I wouldn't be using my weapons on humans again.

"You really have no idea what you're doing, do you boy?" The posh, manicured accent he'd introduced himself with was gone, as was any kindness in his eyes. "I'll give you this, you've got moves. To tell you the truth, I expected to knock you out quite easily, but there was always a chance you'd get away. That's why I brought backup." his last sentence was punctuated by a smile, and the appearance of four hulking men in pure black, poorly fitted suits. They wore red sunglasses, and each of them gripped a red single edged sword.

I wouldn't do well in a fight against the four of them if they had any idea what they were doing, simply because there was nowhere for me to go. I was in a dead end corridor, with the narrow walls less than a foot from each of my sides. I'd also need to do something with Mr. Directionally Challenged here, but he was the only thing protecting me from the other four. I braced my self for an impact, expecting the four to charge. They didn't.

We stared at each other for what seemed like a few minutes, but was probably only a couple seconds, me with a knife to their buddy's throat, and them with swords dangling from their hands. Finally, the biggest and dumbest looking of them took a step forward and said  
"Look kid, we're not here to hurt ya, or you'd be hurt. We coulda rushed ya, you know that. So, since we're obviously not gonna stab ya or somethin', why don't you let our friend here go?"

"Not before you explain to me what you were planning on doing with me down here" I responded, my voice still wavering with fire. All five of them chuckled softly at me, and then the leader responded with "What makes ya think the plan's changed just cus ya got our buddy in a knifelock, huh? You're powerless to stop us and if you're at all smart ya know it. I'll answer ya because its the fastest way to get ya to follow us, and that's what we need right now, got it? Our boss needs to have a talk with ya, and he's not the type to make all this fuss for nothin'. So drop your knife and whatever you got in your other hand and follow. We'll even get ya to your flight on time, if ya shut up and get movin'."  
I didn't have a choice, especially with the other three Cheap Suits hoisting their swords around like chimps with sticks. I dropped the throwing knife at my "guide's" throat, and pushed him away, surreptitiously slipping my other knife back into my bag with the same motion. One of the other Cheap Suits held out a hand and grunted "Bag." I sighed in defeat and gave him my bag. Another one extended both hands and gave me a pat down without even grunting.

I guess whoever this boss guy was, he was too cheap to hire henchmen that could talk.  
Finally the fake guide shoved me into the middle of the group and we began walking through the metal halls again.

It wasn't long until the lead Suit, the guy who'd given me the speech opened a locked door, posted all the men outside, and then unceremoniously shoved me in.

The room was brightly lit by those fancy plasma-Dust tubes, supposed to last decades. It was more of a closet than a room, with a table and two stools shoved into the middle of it. One of the stools was occupied, and I'm sad to say I recognized the man. Of course, anyone who watches the news would, as he was one of the most notorious criminals in Vytal. He would stand exactly 6' tall if he wasn't reclining against the wall, had bright orange hair (shudder – I hate orange), wore a white suit in a strange cut with a grey scarf around his neck. His eyes were a brilliant green that reminded me of... I lost my train of thought I cast a look around, to make sure his signature cane wasn't about to smash my face in or shoot me in an unfortunate area. After glancing under the table, I sat at the free stool and steepled my fingers together, looking at Roman Torchwick over them. I wanted to act like I was in charge, just to spite him.

"So, Mr. Torchwick, it seems you would like to speak with me. I am afraid that I have an appointment of the utmost urgency soon, so this will have to be brief. Why are you here?"  
The so-called King of the Understreets grinned and nodded to himself "You have nerve, after getting accosted by my boys out there. I was watching you follow our fake shuttleport official through these tunnels, and you didn't flinch once. In fact, you knew something was up far sooner than I had anticipated, and I had to send the guards out to get you once you drew those knives from your bag. You're smarter than I had hoped, you're hard to frighten – perfect for what I need."  
I frowned at him, not really impressed with his shpeal.

"Did you have something else in mind, besides pulling me out of my way and wasting my precious time to compliment me?"

Torchwick's grin turned into a pout at my words, before he said "What, you don't like the pleasure of my company? And here I thought we'd get along together. No, the truth is I wanted to talk to you after seeing the debacle at the training center in town. That was your doing, wasn't it?" He chuckled at my surprised and nervous expression before saying "Come on, we both know it was you, there's no use denying it. I have my sources, but you did good not to get seen on tape. They saw you escaping through the back courtyard, in case you were wondering."

"So why bring me here? I think it's obvious that you're not going to tell the authorities – they'd never trust you – so why am I here?"

"Well it's true what you say about the cops, but really, do you think I would spill your little secret? Not at all, in fact, I think you're entitled to a little fun now and then. That's all I do really, is try to have fun when I'm not behind bars in pathetic little holes the cops hope will contain me."

"Your kind of fun is not what I like, Torchwick."

"Oh, are we on name basis now? Well then, do tell why not, Laapis."

It didn't surprise me that Torchwick knew who I was, nor did it worry me. He had plenty opportunity to hurt me, and he hadn't done it. I was only worried that he might go after someone I knew to get me to agree to whatever he wanted – he'd already let me know he wanted me to do something, which I was sure I wouldn't be happy with. There are few people I was close to, and I'd pull the world apart to keep them safe. Perhaps this ganglord knew it. I hoped not.

"You're stalling. What do you want from me, Tochwick?"

"So work oriented, you know that really isn't good for your health don't you? What I'd really like is to have a chat with someone who I could become good friends with."

"I'm afraid you'll need to go then, as we both would rather be doing something else."

"Nonsense! Give me a few minutes of your oh-so precious time, and we'll see what you think then, alright kid? Don't forget, you're here until I'm done anyway, regardless of how much Ms. Nikos says you're supposed to be aboard your flight. If I were you, I'd sit tight and maybe be just a bit nicer, hmm?" When I don't say anything in response, he sighs and rolls his eyes.

"Well alright, straight to business then. Party Pooper. You've proven that you can break into high security establishments with relative ease, considering your numerous break ins at the Training center. Yes, I know how many were you and how many were thugs trying to steal everything that wasn't nailed down. Poor dears, they should have known better than to hoard my share from me.  
"What I need from you, is information. More specifically, I need to know what the instructors up at Beacon are doing whenever I ask for it. I don't care how you get it, but when I ask for it I expect a report, alright? And of course, there is one more thing... If you could be so kind, when you get to Beacon, I need something, ah, retrieved for me. It's a scroll, nothing more. Hardly important sounding, but important all the same. This particular scroll happens to belong to none other than the illustrious Prof. Ozpin, and probably never comes out of his office. So, you'd need to break into his office, get it for me, and bring it back with you to see me. Isn't that lovely?"

I took a deep breath, digesting what I'd just been told. This... was a lot bigger than what Tochwick made it out to be. There was something big in the works, and knowing Torchwick, it was NOT something friendly to the people of Vale, or Vytal for that matter.

"Not just no... HELL no. With all due respect Mr. Torchwick, fuck you, sir."

The ganglord cocked his head sideways as if experiencing something new and intriguing. Then, smiling faintly, he shrugged and said

"A movie quote? Was that really necessary? Well, you knew the stakes coming in. This isn't the sort of offer you could refuse and expect to walk away from. I'm afraid, little Damian, that you're time wasting my air here is done. Goodbye!"

His cane whirled into his hand from the dark corner behind him, already glowing with ruddy light and prepared to fire. The door was situated to my right, and it burst open as his men rushed in to grab me. I thought it wouldn't be wise to let them, so I made good my escape.

The floor was solid cement, which I noticed as soon as I stepped inside. Plus, going down was hardly an option when I needed to get back into the terminals, and the public eye, on the floor above me. The walls were Dust infused cinderblock, probably bearing the weight of the building above, and I'd never break through them. Dust-crete was almost impossible to break, unless you're a rampaging Ursa, which I wasn't. The ceiling was four-by-four wooden beams supporting plywood flooring, spaced roughly sixteen inches apart. Not ideal, but doable.

I moved as fast as I could, jumping straight up out of my stool. Surging upward in a blast of wind served to foul Torchwick's shot and throw his goons around in the process which was a plus in my eye. I had just enough time to aim myself at the space between two of the beams and cover my head with my arms, left arm on top since I was wearing Splinterstorm in it's locked gauntlet form, and pray for a headache instead of a nap. Crashing through the ceiling isn't something to be done lightly, but I knew I was in dire straights the instant I saw Torchwick. He could have killed me easily, and my banter was just a veil to hide my true feelings of him and his men. To be honest, they terrified me, and that incentive was what moved me to escape ASAP.

One of his goons wasn't as down as I would have hoped, and he threw a knife at me as I exploded into the room above. It hit me low on my leg, pinning my pants to my calf and sending waves of pain through my already splitting headache, and it stuck there. I had to pull myself out of the hole I made in the floor with it still in my leg, and it was seething, burning agony just to look at it let alone pull it out. I had to though or I wouldn't have made it anywhere, so I steeled myself and just reached down to rip it out. Turns out it was my own knife I'd gotten stuck with, and through my pain induced haze I heard myself laughing about it. The commotion below brought me back around, tears streaming freely down my face, as Torchwick fired at the ceiling, blowing another hole in it. The floor up here was slate tile on top of plywood, and I'd punched a good sized hole straight through it. Now with another fresh hole, there was a good amount of heavy tile laying around for me to trip on. Couldn't have that, so I picked up the heaviest piece I could find, and threw it back down the hole straight at Torchwick. He must have expected me to scamper away as fast as possible, because his focus was getting his men up the hole to chase me instead of protecting himself. I might have unconsciously used some of my semblance to speed it up through the air as well, making sure to hit him hard. There was a satisfying thunk, and he fell over, unconscious. His henchmen looked on, unsure what to do now that their boss was down, until the big, dumb looking one pointed up at me and shouted "grab him!"

That was all I needed to get moving, and I staggered out of the room into a wall of people and noise, crowds of confused people looking for flights and lost luggage, none of them caring about the open storage closet, or the dusty looking boy with a hole in his pants. Luckily they were black, so my blood wouldn't show up clearly at a glance. I limped out into the throngs, looking for a bathroom to clean up in before my flight. Hopefully, I would make it before it left, or Torchwick woke up from his forced bedtime. I really didn't want to think about what would happen otherwise.

**Hope you guys like it so far! If you have extreme feelings of like or dislike, feel free to shoot me a review! Thanks for reading, it makes authors feel good. **


	3. A Bad Day Gets Better?

**Alright, I FINALLY got this chapter out! Yeah! For some reason this section was mentally crippling to write, and the character interactions miiiiiight not be the best. But the important part is: it's out! Hooray! So, here we go, Happy Reading!**

CHAPTER THREE: A Bad Day Gets... Better? 

"You WHAT?" Pyrrha flat out yelled. I cringed, looking around to make sure no one had heard, or at least, no one was paying attention. The small Dust shuttle was currently flying just above the cloud layer, trying to dodge as much wind shear as it could. It only had a few people on board, which made sense since it was patroning specifically to students of Beacon and there weren't that many this deep into Mistral, but that made it all the more easy for us to be overheard.  
"Look, keep your voice down. It's not something I want to make a big deal about."  
Pyrrha's eyes narrowed, an I trembled inwardly. It was a look I'd seen only once before, and that was enough for it to terrify me.  
"You just told me that you had a run in with the MOST dangerous criminal, possibly the most dangerous person in Mistral, who kidnapped you in order to convince you to steal information, and who then tried to _kill _you! Damian, you could have died! What, I mean, just how do you think that's NOT important?" Her voice rose near then end, until I was cringing at the strange looks we were getting.  
"Pyrrha, please, I'm alright, there's no need to be so – loud." Pyrrha's face tinged scarlet, which I hadn't EVER seen before, a sure sign that I was digging myself ever deeper into my own personal hell.  
"YOU'RE alright? You're alright, so that's all that matters, huh? Let me ask you this, did you even THINK about what your friends would feel if you'd have been murdered in the shuttleport? What I would feel? Did that thought even cross your incredibly empty mind?" Her hands were trembling I noticed. So were her fingers, almost like she was restraining herself from hitting something really hard. I tried not to fling myself away. Carefully.  
"Look, it's not like I had a choice in the matter, right? I didn't know it was Roman Torchwick bringing me in!"  
Pyrrha was gritting her teeth as I spoke, and she replied in a harsh whisper "Didn't you just tell me how you thought something was off before you even got that far down the corridor? For that matter, the moment you were taken into the maintenance didn't strike you as odd? Where was your common sense, Damian? You had all those signs that you were being led into a trap, and you _didn't do anything?! _You're smarter than that, and you know it! There's something your not telling me, isn't there? Did you _want _to follow him, and get in the fight? Are you that eager to prove yourself or something? What happened to thoughtful, tactical Damian?"  
I had to blink and process all the accusations fired at me, holding up my hands in surrender. This was... possibly the worst moment of my life. I just didn't understand what was happening, and I was more afraid now than I was back in the room with Torchwick! Biting my lips in shame and confusion, it took me a few precious minutes of Pyrrha glaring at me until I could form a response.  
"Look, I'm... really sorry that I frightened you, and I know that it was pretty stupid of me to go along with the guy as long as I had. It's just that..." I faltered as Pyrrha's glare deepened. "I mean, it's not an excuse, it's just that I didn't think about-" "Anything?" Pyrrha interjected "No, I mean, well yes, but no. I didn't think anything of..." I sighed, before stopping myself from saying another excuse. "I screwed up, bigtime. I could have been killed, and that wouldn't have been fair to you. Or, you know, to any of our friends still back home. I promise that – mmph!" "No promises" Pyrrha said, her hand shushing me. "I guess... I won't say I overreacted, but I understand why you did what you did. It still means that you're an enormous _idiot _for falling for something so blatantly dangerous, but I understand."

then she did something I didn't expect, and wish I'd been able to enjoy more. She hugged me, tightly and quickly, her head laying on my shoulder. Without her armour on (It hadn't been allowed to be worn passed the gate) it felt nice. She hadn't been the touching type while we'd been dating, and it shocked me that she hugged me now. I guess I really meant a lot to her.  
She patted me on the shoulder when we separated, half smiling. I think she said something about needing some space and I nodded , going to find a seat myself. Suddenly, she turned again, a puzzled expression on her face.  
"Damian? Where's your bag?"  
"I had it when I... Oh, no..."  
"Did you... leave it with those men?"  
"Are you laughing at me?" She swiftly forced her features into a neutral expression, tugging at her ponytail.  
"No."  
"You are. You're laughing at my pain. My weapon was in there! Damn, now I'm gonna have to forge a new one..."  
"I'm... sorry!"  
"Stop laughing! It's not like I deserve this!" I saw her expression and clenched my jaw "I do NOT deserve this, and you know it."  
The Dust shuttle descended towards Vale Dustport, taking our conversation into safer waters. The few Beacon students on board were rushed through barriers onto another, bigger Dustplane about to take off for the school itself.

I will say this, security is really easy when you only have the clothes on your back, although you do get some weird looks from people toting suitcases as big as they are. Actually, there was a white girl who had a whole cart full of cases, and a couple stewards to push it around too. And when I say white girl, I mean _everything _was white, skin, clothes, sword, and boots. I knew some Hunters came from well off families, but it was sobering to see it here, especially after having just lost nearly all my worldly possessions. I had to wonder... just what the hell takes up ten identical white metal suitcases? Was she smuggling hand grenades? Maybe she was just really picky about how her underwear was folded? I wasn't sure, but when she noticed me looking at her stuff her glare frosted over within a matter of seconds.  
Ok, princess. No touchy, no looky. I got the message, and looked away quickly.  
And alright, I might have been a little embarrassed too. Just a little.

The larger Dustplane rode a little rougher than the shuttle I'd been on earlier, and it made more than a few people a little sick. It almost seemed like the pilot was intentionally jerking the flight controls during some moments, although other than that the ride was uneventful. Pyrrha and I agreed to split up when we got on board, so we could try to meet new people.  
I didn't see that point, honestly. Pyrrha was outgoing enough to actually talk to people, while all I did was... sit in the corner and lament my lack of weapon while watching the new Hunters wander around and mingle. Also keeping an eye on possible weapons, which was sort of a hobby of mine since I designed mine without a ton of research and didn't realize at the time how incredibly _many _fighting styles and implements existed in the world.  
Over near the starboard was a guy I full armor hulking around a giant mace, obviously not the most tactical of fighters, but if his frame was any clue strong enough to pull it off. He was chatting with a few kinda plain looking guys, one of them had a mohawk, laughing and patting them on the shoulders. Looked like a fun guy, I guess. There were people starting to gather around Pyrrha, talking with that sort of false nonchalance people get when they really want to impress someone. A few had swords belted at their waists, and that made me brighten, knowing I wouldn't be the only person with simple weapons around.  
Some of the really exotic weapons were tailor fit for the Hunters that bore them, and the matchings were always fun to try and fit together, a tall, thin asianesque looking guy had a strange scabbard/holster thing that completely hid his weapon. Whatever it was, it had a handle like a sword hilt, but where the blade would be were instead two separate pieces, as if on hilt connected to two sword blades. An energy gun of some kind, perhaps? Or maybe it really was a sword, he had the build for it. Lots of tall, strong guys hefting around heavy weapons of some kind, but it was the little weapons that made you think they were more dangerous, probably because they could expand to enormous and frightening dimensions in the blink of an eye.  
There were some girls walking around too, more than I'd thought (or hoped) there would be. Most of them were slim, with swords or guns of some kind, or a mix of the two in the case of a girl in dark clothing with a gun grip extending from a bladed sheath at her back. Ribbons of some flexible metal were also attached to it, maybe a lightweight flail? I'd never seen anything like it, but there was plenty of that to go around. This was Beacon after all.  
Flashes of color in the bleak background caught my eye, and I noticed two bright girls having an intense conversation. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but the older on (you could tell she was older, just trust me) who wore yellow and brown and seemed to have some sort of gauntlets made of glinting gold metal on her wrists was smiling and laughing jauntily, while the younger one, who wore black everything, with a red and black battle skirt, and a bright red hooded cloak looked sort of dejected to be there. I got caught up in watching the two of them, and didn't notice the holo screens activating until Glynda Goodwitch was already halfway through her speech, but I didn't mind. Yellow girl was really attractive, and I was people watching, dammit. I'll watch who I choose.

A pair of slightly glowing eyes almost directly behind the two girls I was watching stood out to me, but I couldn't make out who it was behind Yellow Girl's large endowments. Whoever it was had evidently found an even darker and more secure corner than I had. I flicked my otter ears in annoyance, now I was curious to who this person was and why they were hiding, even though I had been doing the exact same thing. I stood up and moved towards the middle of the viewing level, ignoring the pointed looks I was receiving, most of them towards my tail. I was used to people acting this way, and though it did bother me a little I decided a long time ago that hiding was never going to work out. Plus, my tail is massive, and I'm not sure I _could _have successfully hidden it since it could wrap all the way around my waist and tuck into itself. In fact, that's often what I did with it when I needed to sit for long periods of time. Now however, it was hanging free and gathering surprised glances, as people figured out what I was, or more specifically, what species I was. There hasn't been an otter faunus Hunter in a while, and judging by the fact that the last one used his training to start a war between the Schnee Dust company and the White Fang, probably for good reason.  
I shot Pyrrha a reassuring glance when I noticed her ashen face looking on from the middle of her group of admirers, but I didn't feel nearly as confident as I might look. My heritage was taboo, even among Hunters at the most prestigious school in Vale and I didn't want to make people too uncomfortable by being here.

Uncomfortable people do uncomfortable things. Mainly to me.

I kept walking towards the dark corner where I'd noticed the brown eyes before, and people returned to their conversations as if nothing had happened. Breathing a sigh of relief I hadn't even realized I was holding, I had to smile a little bit at my own paranoia even if it was well deserved in my mind. People here were tolerant towards me, which was like nothing I'd experienced anywhere except the orphanage. I kept my smile when I saw who the brown eyes belonged to, noting that she might be even more shy than me.  
She had large brown eyes, long chestnut-y hair and wore a school uniform even though everyone else was in battle gear. Her long bunny ears were drooping forward as if she were sad about something, and she clutched a wooden box to her chest, occasionally glancing at it as if for reassurance, I think.  
"Hi, I noticed you weren't talking to anybody, and figured I would have to come over and talk to you. I'm Damian."  
"...Velvet Scarlatina." She spoke haltingly at first, with a wonderful accent that I couldn't place. Noticing my ears twitching at her unfamiliar voice she smiled and said  
"Yeah, I know, I'm from Vale but I grew without speaking to a lot of people, so I have my parent's accent. They're from Atlas."  
"Well Velvet, it's nice to meet you. But I still have to wonder, why aren't you talking to everyone? We're all equals here."  
"Well... I could ask the same of you, couldn't I? Until you walked over here, you were sitting in the opposite corner scowling at anyone who came near. Why did you come talk to me?"  
"I was not scowling! Was I?" Joking with this Velvet seemed to be the way to get her to open up to you, for she smiled a little more broadly  
"Yes you were! I felt a little scared myself, from way over here!"  
"Well come on, you can't be afraid of me! I'm not scary at all."  
"On the contrary, you can be very frightening. And I still don't know why you're talking to me... Did you want something?"  
"What? I, uh, no? Look, I'm just... not very good at talking to people and I thought I should start with someone who... looked nice." I cringed internally at my bumbling. This wasn't going well. "Look, I'll go if it'll make you more comfortable."  
"...No...no it's alright, you can sit down if you like. I was just confused, that's all."  
Taking the seat next to her, I noticed Pyrrha smiling broadly at me out of the corner of my eye. I flipped her the bird and she winked in response, laughing at me silently.  
"What was that display? It was rather... rude, don't you think?"  
"What, that? Yeah, I guess it was, but she was making fun of me! Besides, Pyrrha's my friend. I can flip her off because she beats me up in the tournament."  
This drew Velvet's eyebrows together in a puzzled look "Pyrrha Nikos? From Mistral?"  
"Yeah, do you know her? She's over there, with the red hair."  
"I know who she is, I was just surprised to hear her name, I guess. You're friends with her?"  
"Yeah, we, uh... well it's a long story. Anyway, I can introduce you or something if you want. She's great, she laughed at me when I lost my luggage, but other than that, she's great!"  
Velvet was smiling at me again, although I think I saw a subdued laugh under it this time  
"You... you lost your luggage? Did you get it back?"  
"No, I'm gonna have to make a new weapon and everything." I frowned "Why are you laughing?"  
"Don't..." She tittered again "Don't take this the wrong way, but good luck! You see, team building is tomorrow and that takes place in the forest."  
"You're kidding!" My shout drew a few stares, and I quickly lowered my voice "Are you serious?"  
Velvet nodded, and I ran my hand through my hair.  
"I guess I need to talk to someone then. This could suck a lot worse than I'd thought."  
"If you need help, don't hesitate to ask. You know... if you survive."

I grimaced as the Dustplane swung sideways and began docking. I was still grimacing and thinking when Velvet stood up to collect her bag  
"It was nice meeting you Damian. Good luck tomorrow!"  
"Yeah, you too. Don't die out there!"  
I stood up and looked around, people were slowly trickling past some poor blonde haired kid who was being violently airsick into an unfortunate trash can. I decided to wait this one out and was standing behind the crowd when Pyrrha flicked me in the back of the head to catch my attention.  
"Having fun, lady killer?"  
"You're not gonna let that one drop, are you?"  
"That joke? No, with luck I'll be able to tell it until we're both old and far to ornery to actually fight each other."  
"...I hate you."  
Pyrrha just laughed, leading the way out of the Dustplane and into the main courtyard. I just shook my head and followed, knowing I couldn't do anything else. One way or another, I was stuck at Beacon now and I had to make things work even if they looked like they were actively trying to kill me.

**Alright, Damian made it to Beacon in one piece. Conglaturations and all that, NOW, the fun parts of writing actually start! emerald Forest, here we come! Got three more BA Hunters for Damian to meet up with, and some awesome fights to choreograph (I promise these ones will actually be good) So! Chapter four coming out soon, if you're looking forward to that pls review and maybe it'll get written faster! Will that effect it at all? I have no idea. 'Till next time!  
-t**


	4. Nightfall at Beacon

**Hey everybody! I know I promised the Emerald Forest next BUUUUUT that's not where the story wanted to go. Just trust me, they have minds of their own. Anyways, I really wanted to show you another fight scene, so there DEFINITELY is a fight scene in this chapter! I had a lot of fun writing it, too :D Also, RWBY belongs to Monty Oum, but Damian Laapis belongs to ME AHAHAHA! Happy Reading!  
-t  
CHAPTER FOUR: Nightfall at Beacon**

Let me reiterate the fact that unpacking goes by pretty swiftly when you have absolutely nothing to unpack. The main Ballroom of Beacon Academy was crammed full of new students, and I was the only one not toting around a bag at least. I sat down on the bedroll provided for me and started people watching again, trying to form a sense for the type of people I'd be training with for the next four years. Not long after I sat down though, some of the other guys started taking an interest in me, directed by the tall mace-wielding Hunter in grey armor I'd noticed on the Dustplane. He and another boy got into an animated discussion, with much arm waving and eye-rolling, with occasional glances over towards me.  
I'm not much for gossip, but when it's almost certainly about you, you take an interest. I wanted to know what they were saying, so I closed my eyes and concentrated on my smaller Otter ears, almost hidden in my brown hair.  
"... think just because he's a faunus he doesn't know how to fight? He's at Beacon, Cardin. Only fighters are allowed here. Heck, I bet even that scrawny girl he was talking to on the flight could whoop Grimm ass!" The guy talking to the tall kid, Cardin, had a green jacket with sleeves cut off and bracers the same color on his arms. His closely shorn hair only emphasized his mohawk, which was also a light green color. I guess he was defending me from something Cardin had said... which meant Cardin might not be the fun guy he looked like.  
"That's not the point Russel, and you know it. The fact that he's a faunus doesn't mean anything, it's the fact that he's an _Otter _that worries me. You know what the last Otter who came to this school did? He started a stupid war against the Schnee Dust company because he thought faunus deserved human rights. Whose to say that this Otter won't do the same, huh? They're the worst of the faunus, and the bloodthirstiest too."  
"Maybe he'll be able to aim his ire at the Grimm, like we do. You know you're not the best of people too, don't you Cardin?"  
"Oh, I'm not perfect, but at least I'm fully _human._ The Otter can't say that, now can he?"  
The mohawked guy, Russell just shook his head, and glanced at me, meeting my eyes. I half smiled and waved jauntily, making sure he knew I'd been listening in. Cardin looked over his friends shoulder at me, furious and red faced, stalking out of the room. Shaking his head again, Russell came over and sat next to me.  
"You're a weird faunus, you know?"  
"That wasn't the first thing I expected to hear. I take it your buddy doesn't like faunus?"  
"Hey man, I'm sorry about Cardin. He refuses to look at faunus like they're people. I actually kinda had to admire the fact that you stood up in the Dustplane, most faunus are a lot more timid."  
"I won't be walked over. I'm my own person, and to Hell with whomever wants to try and stop me from enjoying that."  
"May I reiterate how you're a weird faunus?"  
That brought an unexpected chuckle from me, and my feel for Russell went up a notch.  
"How so, if you don't mind explaining?"  
"Well, can I be blunt?"  
"Please, most people don't ask permission, and then get mad if you notice. I've gotten to the point where it's hard to trust people when they aren't rude."  
"Ohhhhh-k. Well for one, you're an Otter faunus. You have a certain reputation. People kind of expect you to be mean and vicious because you can be. But you don't. At least, you haven't in the one day since we've seen each other."  
"Is that how people in Vale see people like me? Mean and vicious because we can be?"  
"Yes. The escapades of the White Fang are legendary here, and are aired on TV whenever something even minor happens. The leader of the White Fang once went to Beacon, and that's how the White Fang changed. They used to be a peaceful organization, you know?  
"Yeah I know. I've gotten recruitment offers a number of times. But evidently your friend, Cardin was his name? Cardin doesn't. If he did, he'd have known that the leader of the White Fang, the person who started the war with the Schnee Company is a woman. "  
"Wait... you've gotten recruitment offers?"  
"I told you, I won't allow anyone to run my life for me. That's why I'm here, instead of derailing Dust trains, or whatever it is the White Fang has been doing lately."  
"Well... actually, it's funny that you mention that. Trains, that is... Did you know that the largest amount of Dust being transported in history was stolen from the Schnee Company? It was being transported on a train after their Dustplanes and ships were grounded and scuttled."  
"The White Fang scuttled Schnee shipping freighters? When in Hell did that happen?"  
"You're not from around here, are you? They've been doing that since the new leader appeared, five years ago. To tell the truth, shipping disturbances became so commonplace that they ceased being reported after a while."  
"Well... five years ago? That would explain why I don't rememb- ah, know this."  
"Why? Where are you from? Maybe the news wasn't aired there?"  
I was cut off from having to respond by the intercom bursting to life, the crackling static freezing activity all over the room and causing some students to jump in surprise.  
"_Would Ms. Pyrrha Nikos and Mr. Damian Laapis report to the school entrance please? Again, Pyrrha Nikos and Damian Laapis, to the school entrance immediately." _  
I stood up, confused. A couple people glanced curiously at me, but most were whispering excitedly among themselves "Pyrrha Nikos? That famous girl?" "Man, we get to see her! Where is she?" Pyrrha had to make her way through throngs of people to the door, while my way was mostly cleared by the people going to see her.

I guess it pays to be famous. It pays other people, that is.  
Walking through the darkening school gave Pyrrha and I a chance to catch up on each others day. It was kind of nice actually, since we hadn't really talked after we broke up before the last Tournament, and I'd missed her.  
"So, making any friends?"  
"I don't know. There's so many people just trying to suck up to me, I feel like I'm being suffocated. It's nice to just talk to someone, like you."  
"Not even one person has just said hi to you?"  
"Well... there was one person. But I don't want to talk about it just yet." Pyrrha tugged a little on her ponytail, and walked ahead of me a little, clearly uncomfortable.  
"Anyway, what about you? I'm surprised, you talked to two strangers in one day! That's more than I've seen you do since... well, in a long time."  
"Since we dated, you mean. It's not uncomfortable unless you make it, Pyrrha. I'm happy where I am. Are you?"  
"I... wait, don't change the subject! That was almost too clever for you, Damian. You almost got me."  
We shared a laugh, and I said  
"I really only talked to Velvet, that girl in the Dustplane earlier. The guy who spoke to me back in the Ballroom was just apologizing for his racist friend. In fact..." I thought back to my conversation with Russell "He wasn't the nicest guy either. Kept calling me 'faunus' without even noticing it. I don't think either of them see us as people."  
"That Cardin guy is really mean. He was making fun of your rabbit faunus friend after she left the Dustplane, and it was pretty disgusting. That's actually where I met... nevermind."  
"Ahhh, you met someone? Do tell!"  
"No! Absolutely not! You'll never let me live it down."  
I stepped in front of her, cutting her off  
"Pyrrha, you of all people should know that _not _telling me will make it worse off in the end."  
"Damian... I'm. Not. Gonna. Tell."  
I knew her serious voice when I heard it, and I held up my hands in defeat.  
"So where is the entrance from here? We should be close by, right? It's getting dark now that the sun is setting, what do you think they need us for?"

A serious, older sounding voice came from ahead of us, around a corner that opened into the main courtyard of Beacon.  
"Well young man, it is customary for Beacon Academy to interview students coming from unusual backgrounds, and I'm sure you know you and Ms. Nikos qualify."  
From around the corner stepped Headmaster Ozpin and the teacher from the Dustplane holoscreen, Goodwitch.  
Ozpin took a sip of coffee while Glynda smiled ever so slightly at our surprised looks before saying  
"The two of you are the only students who entered this school without backup support from your primary educators. Ms Nikos, it is well known to us that you graduated with exemplary marks from Sanctum, congratulations by the way. For you this meeting is more of a formality, as well as a way to facilitate our interview with young Mr. Laapis." Turning to me now, and taking another sip of coffee Ozpin stated "You, Mr. Laapis are impossible to find on any records other than the Mistral Region Annual Tournament roster, where you placed third three years ago, competing in tier two, then second in both following years, competing in tiers three and four. In fact, it was only Ms. Nikos here who bested you in those events. Follow me to Ms. Goodwitch's office, and we will begin the interview."  
Ozpin and Goodwitch sat behind Goodwitch's massive desk, while Pyrrha and I answered questions about our education, praying that we got them correct. I shuddered to think what might happen if Ozpin wasn't satisfied with our performance, but I told myself that getting kicked out was unlikely. Maybe I'd get put into lower level classes if I failed... yeah, right.  
Finally, after about twenty minutes of questions about semblance use versus Dust use I cleared my throat, catching Ozpin's attention. Ms. Goodwitch, whose first name was Glynda according to her desk name plaque glared at me for interrupting, but Ozpin just said  
"Yes Damian, do you have a question?"  
"Yes, sir, I do. Can you tell me what you're hoping to decide by asking us these questions?"  
"In a manner of speaking, you've just answered my main query. Glynda wished for some form of official paperwork documenting your arrival here, since we've never taken on anyone with so empty a past before. I merely wanted to know if you would understand when your time was being used versus wasted."  
Pyrrha's eyes widened in surprise and I said "May I know your opinion on that?"  
An elbow hit my ribs, probably trying to shut me up.  
"As a matter of fact, you may." At this point, Glynda cut in  
"However interesting the headmaster's opinion may be, we still have the matter of your rather vague past. Your only records are Mistral Government documents with a time stamp of your arrival at the orphanage where you spent the last four years and two months. Other than that are the Mistral Tournament records, which indicate that you are a fighter of exemplary skill, despite having no schooling. Can you please tell us, where you learned to fight and why you are pursuing a career as a Hunter? And where you came from before spending time in the orphanage as well?"  
My mood instantly plummeted, and I could feel myself tighten up. Evidently, it wasn't lost on the others in the room, for Pyrrha elbowed me again, Ozpin tilted his head slightly while drinking his coffee, and Goodwitch added "This is for our official records only, they won't be shared with any other organizations. We'd just like to know how best to teach you."  
I sighed, forcing myself to relax and closed my eyes.  
"I spent most of the last four years training weekly at the Mistral Region's Official Tournament Training Center, in order to compete in the Tournament. During my first year, three years ago, I tested into the second year level, tier two of the tournament. I've been fighting in the tournament each year so I could apply here and get out of Mistral."  
Ozpin leaned forward and asked "Why didn't you apply to a primary education facility in Mistral, such as Sanctum? They are just as qualified to educate young Hunters, perhaps more so."  
"I believe those reasons are mine, and I don't wish to share them" I said stiffly. I was aware of Pyrrha shifting uncomfortably next to me, but I ignored her.  
"Very well. So you learned to fight in the Mistral Tournament, but where did you initially come from? Why did you go to the orphanage?"  
My lips became a thin line again, and my mood boiled still more turbulently but I again forced my panic and frustration away.  
"Is something bothering you? Is there something in your past you don't wish to tell us?"  
"It's not like that!" Pyrrha interjected. Seeing her come to my aid somehow calmed me, and I put a hand on her shoulder, quieting her outburst.  
"Yes, there is something about my past that bothers me, but I'm afraid I can't tell you what it is."  
"You realize young man, that you may jeopardize your position at this academy if we find you were involved in anything illegal."  
I grimly smiled and replied with "If you do find out anything about my past, be sure to let me know. You see, I woke up at the orphanage of the sisters four years ago with a cut on my scalp and no memory of how I'd gotten it, or where I'd been living, or what I'd been doing in my life up to that point. All I knew was my own name, and that I was an Otter faunus. To this day, I still don't know anything about my past, where I came from, or.." Here my voice broke a little, though I quickly cleared my throat and continued "Or who my family was."  
Goodwitch's eyes widened in shock, and she gripped her scroll tightly, as if afraid it would vanish. I was used to responses like this, though it bothered me more than I let on. Ozpin's response was different than what I was used to, he simply set down his mug and leaned back in his chair, processing the information I'd given him. Pyrrha primly looked out the window at the sun that had just set, leaving the land in twilight, tugging at her ponytail and fidgeting.  
My gaze refocused on Ozpin when he steepled his fingers and looked at me over them, much as I had done to Torchwick earlier. Had that really been today? It felt like a week ago.  
"You've given me a lot to think about, young man. I believe you will make a great contribution to this university, possibly the greatest. I gladly accept you and Ms. Nikos.  
We both sighed in relief, causing Ozpin to smile at his fellow teacher and say  
"However, we still need to see for ourselves your capabilities. We do this for students in your circumstances to understand what level of progress would be best for you, and to place you in corresponding classes. Are you ready?  
Pyrrha frowned and asked "What exactly will we be doing?"  
"I thought that was clear. You will be dueling. Collect your weapons and follow Ms. Goodwitch and I to the sparring arena."  
"Ah, there might be a problem with that sir." I said.  
"Oh? And what might that be?"  
"Well..." I shifted uncomfortably "My bag, which contained my weapon and my possessions was stolen from me at a shuttleport in Mistral."  
Ozpin raised his eyebrows while Goodwitch carefully maintained a neutral expression  
"And what do you propose do do about this problem?"  
I hadn't expected to be asked what I thought about things, clearly Ozpin was in charge here. However, it was my problem alone, and I should take responsibility for it. The thought that I might have greater control over my actions here made me feel a little better after my revelation.  
"I had hoped to be able to go to Vale early tomorrow morning, before the team building exercises and buy weapons and clothing. After that, I was going to reforge a weapon for myself as soon as I could."  
"You are quite correct in assuming that you'll need a weapon for tomorrow, but you will not be able to get to Vale before the exercises begin. May I suggest an alternative? There is an armory here that contains standard sized weapons of various classes, and I will allow you to take your pick from it. In addition, if you promise to behave yourself, you may have forging privileges the week before classes start. No one will be there to bother you, but no one will clean up after you either, so be neat. Now, we still need to evaluate your fighting level, so I suggest we begin moving. The armory is this way."  
I exchanged shocked looks with Pyrrha, not quite believing my luck, and we both followed the strange teachers.

The sparring arena was dimly lit with glowing blue spheres set into the ceiling, lending the room a barren and dead feel. It was a simple circle, forty yards across and flat. Grey walls and floor spoke of placidity, but actually hid Mechabot dispensers by the dozen, ready to spawn armies of Grimm and Hunter enemies to fight against. If I was going to be completely honest, the room scared me on a deeper level than I've felt in a long time. It was even more taxing than the training center I'd learned to fight in, and it could probably kill me if it wanted to since Beacon academy didn't have the safeguards public training centers had... and there had been accidents before. The computer was turned off however, since Ozpin had decided that I was to fight Pyrrha in order to rank us both in the school, but  
I would almost rather fight naked against the computers highest setting. Pyrrha was not known for her restraint during battle and her semblance could pull victory from a seemingly difficult battle with nonchalant ease.

We settle near the middle of the sparring ring, about ten yards apart. Because I only had a standard leaf-bladed sword and my shield, Pyrrha had agreed not to mechashift her weapon, Miló, from it's sword form. This was to be a battle of swords and shields, aura and semblance. My knees quaked under the light mail armor I'd chosen to wear under my padded jacket and only by gripping my new sword could I calm myself. Looking at Pyrrha's deep green eyes, sudden calm flooded through me, my senses heightening and time seeming to slow slightly as adrenaline caught on to the fact that I was most likely to have violent, possibly bloody things done to me in the near future. I took a deep breathe, concentrating on the currents of air around me, seeking to defend myself from Pyrrha's Polarity.

"Begin"

Pyrrha let out a battle cry of startling volume, and I felt her semblance brush up against my sword, which was made of steel, dammit. However... it couldn't seem to touch it. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that my sword and shield were both slightly blurry, as if seen through a thin fog. Wind! My wind was protecting me, even from Pyrrha's semblance.  
It couldn't protect me from her though, as she flew towards me with sword outstretched, her eyes going from anticipation, to shock, to determined in a second.  
I shifted Splinterstorm out of gauntlet form and side-stepped as fast as possible, catching Miló in it's prongs and wrenching it from Pyrrhas grasp, kicking her in the side as she went past me in a blur of red and gold. She jumped gracefully with the kick, gestured at her sword with a black smear of a hand, and it flew at the back of my head. I ducked, parrying with my sword, ducking under Pyrrha's jump kick, swinging at her unprotected leg only to have her sheild, Akoúo̱ descend from nowhere and block my strike mid flight.  
We separated, circling each other just out of arms reach, shields up and swords ready for lunges. The guard on my left side was always high a bit, and Pyrrha lunged in with a quick movement, forcing me to block with Splinterstorm and riposte, slashing with both my sword and shield. Pyrrha ducked the sword and somersaulted over my shield, going for another kick which I rolled backwards away from. I decided I'd been on the defensive for long enough, and surprised my opponent by sweeping forward along the floor in a blast of air, knocking her to the ground and getting in a quick slash with my sword before she bounced me off her shield and tried a slash in return, locking our swords.  
I had to smile at her over our blades, and she only growled in response before attacking again, this time with a kick that I blocked with my shield and some air, the concussion blowing her hair into her eyes.  
We closed again, swords constantly moving, shields bashing, slicing, flying through the air, swords darting left and right but always being blocked by another, until Pyrrha got in left hook from her shieldless arm, Akoúo̱ flying through the air behind her somewhere. I stumbled over her heel kick, came up standing, spinning quickly with my sword in an icepick grip, my blades forcing her retreat, me in pursuit. My sword slashed left and up, blocked by her weapon, my shield slashed right and down, blocked by her armored knee and punched away, her knee continuing upward to hit me high on the chest, Pyrrha backflipping away and pulling her shield back towards herself with another black smear in the air.  
I needed to change tactics, attacking her with pure force was not working. She was too good at reading me, too good at defending herself and letting me beat myself up. Plus she kept using her aura to guide her attacks, making them pinpoint accurate and taxing my Wind when her semblance tried to stop her from stealing my weapons. Wait... I was focusing too much on defense to effectively fight offensively. My semblance was protecting me, when I needed it to... I felt a flash of cool air, surrounding me and somehow making me blend into the air around me. I felt light, swift, and cold somehow.  
Pyrrha turned back towards me and closed again, but my shield plopped itself between her and me at the perfect angle to bounce her away, somehow moving too fast and too slow... I hadn't meant to move my shield. It had just happened, by itself, perfectly I might add. What the hell?  
Whatever, I was going to use every advantage I had. I leaped after Pyrrha's floating body, somehow catching up to her as she plummeted to the floor, striking at her back with my shield and corkscrewing over her body, slashing away. Her armor caught most of the blows, but she definitely felt a few of them. I landed in a side-slide, leaping at her again before she fully hit the ground, moving faster than gravity could hold her and flying through the air, currents whipping my hair around and pulling at my tail. She rolled as soon as she could, but I was already upon her, slamming into her and sending her across the floor but – oh dammit, she used my momentum to fuel a handspring back to her feet, her green eyes slitted in concentration and her hands dropping her weapons. I continued forward, noticing that her sword remained floating, surrounded by a black cloud, her hands tracing an X in front of her leaving a smear of her semblance behind to float before her. I plowed straight into it and instantly regretted my decision to do so as I was jerked in four different directions, my sword was thrown away and my shield strained to pull my arm from my socket. I helplessly floated in her trap, her semblance holding me in place above the floor. She calmly reclaimed her sword and shield, then raised them both to attack me again.

"Combatants, stand down. That's all we need to see."

I was instantaneously dropped to the floor as a silvery substance flowed through the room, shutting down both my Wind and Pyrrha's Polarity. We both glanced upward, shocked, and found the source of the shimmering, dancing essence to be Prof. Ozpin's outstretched hand. He smiled and put his hand back on the curve of his cane, which had strangely been standing completely unaided beside him.  
"You both qualify for the honors program for freshman at Beacon, and as such whatever teams you form will have the option to choose as a whole whether to follow standard education, or honors education. Keep in mind, that it is your team's decision, and that you should not pressure your new teammates into it."  
Ozpin stepped back, allowing Goodwitch to approach the both of us. She examined her scroll, and judging by the sounds of battle coming from it she had recorded our fight. She made a few quick strokes, zooming in on one particular portion, then turned the screen to face us.  
"Ms. Nikos, can you explain this particular moment for me? What exactly am I looking at?"  
The scene showed the moment her arms began tracing the X in the air in front of her, leaving blurry black streaks of her Polarity behind. I was visible just on the side of the screen, the blurred details of my figure describing the speed at which I was moving.  
"Well, that's my semblance Ms. Goodwitch."  
"Professor or Prof. Goodwitch will do, Ms. Nikos. What I mean to say is, how were you sustaining it without touching it? You clearly superimpose yourself onto the air, then sever contact with the manifestation of your semblance, yet it does not dissipate immediately."  
"Well, I trained a lot with aura and semblance manipulation during my schooling at Sanctum, and found that I could extend the area of effect of both with intense concentration. I knew that if Damian was able to attack me again as successfully as before, then I would lose. So I trapped him."  
Pyrrha was visibly uncomfortable under the scrutiny, wondering if she'd done something wrong, but Goodwitch just nodded, and made a few notes on her scroll. Then she turned it to face us again, this time with the scene centered around me, my sword raised and my shield turned to face Pyrrha.  
"And this, Mr. Laapis? What are you doing here?"  
"I don't see anything out of the ordinary, Professor. It looks like I'm about to either attack or shield myself."  
"Yes, your stance is effective at both and will be a great asset, but what I meant is this."  
She zoomed in on my right arm, holding my sword. Around my forearm there was a wispy looking tendril of something blurry, twisting around my sword from the tip all the way to my elbow. Whatever it was, it had no color, it only slightly blurred whatever was behind it and was very difficult to see. I was impressed that Goodwitch had picked it out during the fight, since I was moving pretty damn fast.  
"I have no idea what that it Professor, but if I had to wager a guess I would say it was my aura."  
Goodwitch tilted her head, surprised. "Actually, I sensed no aura use coming from you. Pyrrha was augmenting her strikes in both strength and accuracy, but you were not responding in kind. Have you fully unlocked your aura Damian?"  
"Yes! It's just that my aura is slightly different than other peoples. Instead of a malleable force, something that I can form to the task at hand, mine is like a field of turbulent energy surrounding me, it protects me from projectiles like arrows and rocks."  
Glynda looked confused for a second, then asked "Is it there now?"  
I nodded, my projectile protection was always with me. I could always feel it as a slight tingle, like an electric charge, but all around me. She gently reached out a hand, stopping about half an inch from my upper arm.  
"There is... some kind of energy here, but I'm sure it isn't aura. It almost feels like the semblance you were using before, which was also unfamiliar to me."  
"What? What do you mean, it's not aura?"  
"Exactly what I said. It seems to me that you have not unlocked your aura yet. If I were you, I would work on that as soon as possible. While your semblance is clearly effective, it does not by any means replace aura use."  
I stood in silence, shocked. Had I really been without a semblance this entire time? All the time I had trained and fought, never once using it? Actually... I wasn't as surprised as others might have been. Someone with my kind of background, which is to say, without one gets used to surprises pretty early.  
Pyrrha broke the silence by asking "Professor? What did you mean by saying that you didn't recognize Damian's semblance? I mean... no disrespect, but I thought teachers like you were able to understand semblance use, and teach others to better use theirs?"  
"I can recognize semblance and aura use, though I am not an aura adept like the Headmaster. It's simply that in teaching others I have acquired a grasp of how their semblance functions, and used that information to better teach them. I have never run across Damian's semblance before, which may indicate that he comes from very pure blood, as most modern semblances are a mix of older, more clearly defined powers. Damian, if you had to describe your semblance in one word, what would you call it?"  
"In one word? Well... I've always thought it was just called Wind. Something that stuck with me from... wherever I come from."  
Glynda blinked in surprise "I have heard of your particular power, but now I'm not surprised I haven't run across it before. Damian... Your semblance is part of an ancient set, carried by specific families. The Elements of Dust, Wind, Fire, and Water were supposedly the first semblances and aura types mankind was able to use. That you can use it now is very strange, considering how far man has progressed since that time. But I'm confident that it will be a great tool for your use, and combined with your aura once it's unlocked, will be only moderately difficult to cultivate."  
I stood rooted to the floor once more, as another surprise flooded over me. If Beacon was going to keep dropping bombshells like this, I don't know if I can survive.  
"Now that we're done here, you should both head back to the Ballroom and get some rest. I know most of your fellow Hunters are going to be awake until the sun begins rising, but you all must report to the emerald forest early tomorrow morning, so it would be wise not to join them. Goodnight, and good fortune."  
Just like that, Pyrrha and I were left alone in an abandoned sparring ring, to mull over the facts that we'd just been given. They just expected us to fall asleep after something like this? This was unprecedented! I looked around to see Pyrrha yawning cavernously, gathering her weapons and strapping them in. Of course, now I was tired... and it's not like fighting was the most refreshing of experiences. With unspoken agreement, we both walked back to the Ballroom, to fend off all the accusations and rumors of our disappearance.

"NO, I DID NOT TRY TO MAKE OUT WITH HER!" I yelled for the fourth time. The group of hopeful guys looking for a story finally left me alone, and a threw a pillow over my eyes in an attempt to block out the rest of the room.  
Some people.

**Ok, what did you think? The fight scenes in RWBY are one of the series major strengths, and I really want to do them justice in this fanfic, so please let me know how you liked the first two! I want to at least partially recreate the heart-pounding excitement I get from watching the show, but that's hard to judge from the authors chair. Let me know what was good and bad! And as always, happy reading.  
-t**


	5. Flight And Fight

**I DID IIIIIT HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! So, I'm super pumped that I got this chapter out (Finally!) It's been in the works for almost a whole month, buuuuut it might suffer for my enthusiasm to finally finish it. Seriously, this story is taking me on some weird turns, but it'll get places! I promise! And I'm gonna try to avoid making my OC TOO overpowered, as well as his team. Yes, he's getting a team of three more OC's, each with their own backstory and history! Credit to my friends for creating them, and letting me use them! Anywhosums, this is chapter five, chapter six is in the works, so Happy Reading!  
-t**

CHAPTER FIVE: Flight and Fight 

I abruptly awoke when something heavy landed on me, forcing an "Oof!" from my mouth and my eyes open. My hand instinctively scrabbled around for a weapon, and I had a pillow ready to throw before I even realized how bad of a weapon that would make.  
"Oh, did you want to play too! Yayyy, I knew it would be ok! See, I told you so!"  
The weight crushing my chest proved to be the bottom of a rather energetic girl with short orange hair (shudder) and wide blue eyes. If her rapid-fire way of speaking was any evidence, she was extremely hyped up this morning. She wore a white and pink dress-thingy and gripped a pillow in each hand, as if she was about to throw them when she fell over.  
"Can't... breathe..." I grunted as she began to bounce slightly in excitement, only making my situation worse.

"Nora, you're crushing him. And I don't think he wanted to pillow fight with you, you just surprised him."  
"You don't know that, Ren! He could have been waiting for someone to ask him!"  
"You didn't ask, you just tripped over your own sleeping bag, stumbled around, and then fell on him."  
"You make me sound so clumsy!"  
"You're still crushing him."  
The hyper girl, Nora, immediately jumped to her feet, eliciting another groan from me as my lungs filled with precious, glorious air. I lay on my back watching small blue spots dance around, until I heard Nora's voice again.  
"I'm sorry, what?" Nora pouted a little, but repeated herself, while her friend Ren rolled his eyes behind her.  
"Did you wanna pillow fight?" She held up her pillows like she was gripping axes and swung them at me, giggling.  
"Uhhh..." I looked around, most people were still asleep, other sleeping bags empty as those that were awake at breakfast.  
"Not this morning, sorry. I'm pretty hungry, and I think I smell pancakes." I went to stand up, but stopped as I noticed Ren pale and take a step back, glancing around nervously. I looked around too, before noticing that Nora was gone. I glanced back at Ren just in time to see him flinch, and suddenly I was hoisted out of my sleeping bag by the scruff of my neck and turned around to face Nora, who'd somehow appeared directly behind me with a giant silver rune-inlaid hammer.  
Gulp.  
"PANCAKES?" Her shining blue eyes were alight with manic excitement that overcame even her behavior moments ago. "C'MON REN! WE'RE GOING TO GET PAAANCAAAAKES!"  
"Wait! What are you doing with me?"  
"You're coming with us, of course!"  
"What? Why?!"  
"I have to make up for waking you!"  
"Nora, watch where you're swinging him. There's a-!" THUNK  
"Ohhh... Did I break him?"  
"Let's take him down to breakfast and see if we can find a teacher along the way... I hope he'll be fit for the Emerald Forest later."  
"Oh, that's right! That's today! WAHOO!"  
"NORA! People are sleeping, be quieter."

"...Sorry Ren! And people."

I woke to a shock of cold showering over my neck and down into my shirt, my arms and fingers instantly attempting to retreat into the warmth of my inner body. Blearily glancing around I noted that I wasn't in the Ballroom anymore, and that there seemed to be a large plate of pancakes sitting in front of me... There was also an unusual sucking and grinding noise coming from somewhere nearby, but my confused senses couldn't make heads or tails of where or what it was.  
"Ah, Nora, why don't you grab some more pancakes before they run out?"  
"They're running out? NOOOOooooooooooo!" The orange haired girl's shout of despair faded as she ran back into line, grabbing three plates and loading all of them with more pancakes.  
"Are you awake, then? Sorry about your head, we did the best we could. Still, with some food in you you should be set for the Emerald Forest later."  
"Thank you for getting her away."  
Ren let out a chuckle, the corners of his magenta eyes crinkling as he did so. He set a now empty glass of water on the table, the condensation on the side showing where my shocking wake up had come from.  
"I knew Nora was liable to knock you out again in excitement so I figured I'd do that."  
"She seems unduly happy for someone about to go kill things." I crossed my arms on the table and folded my head upon them, noticing that it was bandaged with what appeared to be several layers of industrial strength toilet paper.  
"What the, gah, can I take this off?"  
"You probably shouldn't, if you want to heal. I empowered a guaze patch with my Aura and stuck it to the lump on your head with what we had on hand, so that should speed the healing process up. But all the same, you'll want to leave it on until we start the mission at least."  
"Well..." I considered his words, frowning "Wait, won't that make the coming exercises harder for you? Not that I'm complaining, I mean thank you, but... still man. You didn't need to do that."  
"Look... what's your name?"  
"Damian." I reached out a hand and he shook it solemnly

"Damian. I did what I could to fix what my friend had done."

"IIIII'MM BAAAACK! Oh, he woke up! Hi! I'm Nora, and this is Renny Ren!"  
"It's just Ren. Nora, this is Damian, no you are not allowed to give him a noogie."  
"Awww, ok. How did you sleep?"  
I raised my eyebrows at Ren and he smiled knowingly at me, calmly picking at his pancakes and rolling his eyes again at Nora's inquisitiveness. I took the hint and declined to answer by digging in myself. The pancakes were damn good, in case you were wondering. Hey, I take what good I can get, and they were definitely good.  
I ended up spending the rest of the morning with Ren and Nora, walking briefly around the main courtyard and gawking like tourists while enjoying Ren and Nora's antics. Mostly Nora's. Beacon Academy was a whole different school in full daylight, and I was glad to take the opportunity to look around, the tall spires and green crystals catching my eyes while the mountains surrounding the school contrasted the dark blue buildings with bright green and fiery red foliage. It wasn't too long before we were in and out of the locker rooms, collecting our equipment and heading out towards the cliff before most of the other students.  
I couldn't wait for this. It was going to be so much easier to understand all my fellow Hunter's weapons and armor when I could actually see them, and the thought propelled me forward towards the cliff face, and unfortunately towards a stern faced Prof. Goodwitch, who assigned us each a metal pad to stand on, overlooking the Emerald Forest. I tried not to focus on the swaying green carpet and the stiff breeze that was blowing up the cliff face, bringing the sounds and smells of the forest with it. Definitely not because it reminded me of how freaking high up the cliff we were, because heights weren't something I was afraid of. Not at all.

Glancing around and the growing number of students gave me plenty of distraction from my impending – I mean the beautiful countryside, and I felt my ears and tail twitch with excitement at seeing so many awesome inventions.

That guy has a flamberge that transforms into a flamethrower! Awesome! The tank strapped to his back made it evident that it could dish out plenty of damage, but it still seemed a little unwieldy to me. Ooh! That girl has a weird red box of some kind. I wonder what it transforms into? Oh wait, this was the same girl I was watching on the Dustplane! Her sister in yellow stood next to her down the line from me, her metal gauntlets glinting in the sunlight. On my other side stood the Atlas-looking kid I also noticed on the plane, with the double bladed sword thing. It was still in it's sheath though, so I couldn't tell for sure. And down the line from him was a tall, strong looking guy with a hand axe strapped to his right leg. He wore a white and blue tunic, his legs covered in steel boots to the knees and his left arm encased in banded steel armor, from gauntlet to shoulder. His right should bore only a stiff pauldron, making it easy for him to swing his axe I guess. He had short brown hair and hazel eyes that were bluer than mine, but when he caught me looking at him they immediately darkened in disapproval, and he frowned at me. My eyebrows rose, and I frowned back, unmoved by his behavior. I could actually see his eyes flick to my ears and then my tail, his features deepening from disapproval into shock and then anger, which finally made me look away. I gripped my sword and wished for Battlewing back, but took solace in the fact that Splinterstorm was still with me. The judgment I received from some people wasn't fair, but was still very much around, perpetuated by the antics of the White Fang and their fanatical leadership. I was cut short of my thoughts by professor Goodwitch and Ozpin telling us about the system for creating partners, and the goal of the mission which was to retrieve a "relic" from a ruin deep in the forest.

The first person's metal plate snapped upward, flinging her high away into the sky and towards the forest. I think it might have been Velvet, judging by the rabbit ears. I glanced down at the forest below the cliff face and... fuuuuuuuuuuudge, that was a long ways off. I could feel adrenaline force its way into my system as the onset of panic began, my heart beating rapidly and sweat forming on every conceivable pore. The fourth person was just getting launched now, I somehow missed two and three. I was seventh in line. Calm down Damian, you're a Wind user! This should be easy!

It didn't work.

And suddenly I was airborne, my reflexes tucking me into a ball angled to get me as flat a trajectory as possible as I searched for a way to get myself to the forest floor in one piece. Nora soared past me, forcing herself downward with pink plasma explosions from her hammer, which had mechashifted into a grenade launcher. If I didn't think of something fast, the wind whistling through my hair and tugging at my tail would be the last thing I felt, and my the bottom of my stomach fell out as I started to fall, the lift generated by my launch petering out. For some reason the Dustplane we had traveled in broke through my thoughts, and I instinctively stretched out my body, arms held out like wings in a pathetic hope of flight.

Wait... this could work! I stretched out sense, trying to get a feel for the air currents around me. I've never been good at explaining how my understanding of the air works. To me, it feels like I'm pushing my arm out of a moving shuttle, and feeling the air glide past, except I have an infinite number of arms and they reach a really long ways away. But you know how holding your arm out the window can get tiring after a while? Multiply the number of arms by a thousand. And the length by five hundred. I get tired _extremely _quickly doing anything long range, and right now I was checking out an entire sphere around me a couple hundred feet wide. Luckily, I was good enough to get what I needed in under a second, and began phase two of my plan, which was the part that kept me from splatting on the ground really hard. The important part.

I concentrated hard, trying to enforce my will onto the air around me, my hands forming into claws and puffs of air guttering from them. I fell faster, my efforts in vain, still trying to slow my fall. I couldn't get my semblance to focus around me in such an intense environment, everything was moving. But it was my only hope. Trees and rocks jutted up from the ground below, ready to render me as a pink splotch on the ground if I failed. Gritting my teeth and looking at each hand through my slitted eyes, I refocused, trying to force my semblance out.

"NIXUS!"

I wasn't sure where the word that burst from my mouth came from, or even what it meant, but it sure as hell worked. My arms suddenly bowed upward as they were supported from below, my body rising up to follow suit, held aloft by my will on the air around me.

I'd forced two micropressure zones into existence, tying them to myself so that they followed above and below my body, an intense low pressure system above me and an equally intense high pressure zone below me, turning my body into an unwieldy and impromptu wing, but damn me if it didn't work like a charm. I flew across the sky faster than I could possibly have run, pushed sideways by my launch momentum and held aloft by my wits. A laugh burst from my mouth as joyous hysteria swept over me, adrenaline ripping through my body and clouding my thoughts. I was alive, and even better, I could _fly! _Hahahaha! Suck on that one, forest floor! Minus one kill for you!

Professor Ozpin nearly spat out his coffee in shock, but was able to maintain his composure at last second. What in the name of Grimm had he just felt? Goodwitch glanced over at the Headmaster, sensing something was off, but refocused on her scroll when he waved her away. The two were capable of communication without speaking after so many years working together, and Ozpin's body language clearly stated that something was both off, and that he was confused, something that Goodwitch had rarely seen. It worried her, but she dutifully went back to watching the cameras placed along the forest floor, figuring that all the students would have landed one way or another. Because of this, she didn't notice Ozpin pull up the sky cameras on his scroll, searching for the massive blast of aura he'd just felt. It only lasted a microsecond, but the sheer area it had covered was staggering in itself, most aura users struggled to project their powers mere inches from their bodies. Somehow, someone had thrown intense aura around like it was nothing, projecting out into a sphere hundreds of feet wide. It was nearly unheard of... and certainly nobody had done it within the past century. The earth tended to react strongly to aura use of that magnitude, becoming attuned to its dangers after the end of the War. Human being had changed the earth like no other race was capable of doing... and it was unknown what repercussions would be coming their way. Ozpin's musings were cut short however when flipping through cameras he noticed a large speck floating in the distant frame. Zooming in, the speck resolved itself into the form of a teenager with outstretched arms. Ozpin rubbed his eyes, took another sip of coffee, and looked again.

The form remained, getting further away, somehow staying aloft and flying through that air. As the picture gained resolution, passing near another camera, Ozpin recognized the person as Damian Laapis, the blue and green jacket was unmistakable. So... The boy could use his aura after all, although it still didn't feel conscious. And his control over his semblance was ironclad, although that may be a problem when it came to getting the boy to use aura. Pushing his glasses higher up his nose, Ozpin zoomed in on the areas above and below, noting the blurred patches of air seeming to cling to Damian's body. Somehow, the air was supporting him, although his descent was still about eight feet per second, making him glide but not really fly. After satisfying his curiosity and making a note on Damian's student profile, Ozpin went back to watching the rest of the prospective Hunters, pursing his lips in disappointment when he noticed that three of them had been overrun by Grimm and were running back to the cliff. They would be airlifted out if they survived and quietly expelled from the Academy after this failure. They could do nothing else for them.

The forest floor was only interrupted by soaring green pines and the occasional dead trunk as it moved away like a rug being pulled out from under me. The air was clear and cool, smelling of tree sap and wet foliage, and the only sound was wind rushing through my hair and past my ears. My Otter ears were pressed closed, unable to tolerate the biting cold and howling gale, but my human ears were open enough to hear the sudden _BANG _from below me, followed by a whoop and a crash. I glance below, opening my eyes against the wind and glimpsed an orange and gold figure flying across the treetops, laughing in delight. Wait... The orange bits weren't part of her, they were jets of fire exploding out of her hands! _BANG! _The Huntress propelled herself through the air, quickly catching up to me in leaps and bounds.  
"Hey! What the – What the hell are you doing? How can you still be up there, flyboy?"

I recognized the girl finally, as the yellow one from the Dustplane with the, ah, distracting assets. Yang, was her name? I think so.

"Oh, you know" I shouted back "Just hanging out!"

"Is that your semblance? Holy Cow! You'd be fun to have around!" Her quick grin was punctuated by another loud explosion as she detonated through the top of a tree, leaving the crown looking half-bald and smoldering although it was quickly put out by the rush of cold air whipping along behind her.

"Well, it's not quite as easy as it looks, so I won't be pranking people on a regular basis, although for you I might make the occasional exception!" I sent her another grin, but was suddenly occupied by a buffet of wind that pushed its way into me, stopping my heart for a second as I dropped a few feet. Normally wind doesn't bother me... were my defenses failing as I flew along? I had no way to tell, so I decided to look casually for a landing spot.

"Hah! I knew you'd be a fun guy! My name's – WHOA!" I glanced down in time to see her backflip in midair over a tree branch intent on spearing her alive "That was close, haha! I'm Yang, Yang Xiao Long!"

"Damian Laapis, nice to meet you finally!"

"Finally? You been watching me, Laapis? You wouldn't be the first, hehe!" The sly wink that followed made me uncomfortable and it showed when I suddenly dropped another few feet. My head was pounding and I was starting to get a slight headache, through the endorphins firing in my brain and all.

"Well, looks like I make you want to come down to earth, huh? You'll have to find me to catch me, skyboy!" With that Yang flipped onto her back and blasted herself into a thicket of trees, absorbing her momentum by deflecting herself off their many trunks until tucking into a ball and rolling to the forest floor.

I was struggling to hold myself against the force of my own weight now, and thinking frantically about how to ease myself to the ground. What had happened? One second I had been doing fine, and now I was visibly shaking from the strain? I examined my stores of energy using my scroll and was greeted with a blinking orange bar, steadily dropping closer and closer to the red zone. At red, most people's powers turned inward to protect their fatigued bodies, expending as little energy as possible and attempting to heal. Unfortunately for me, at this height if I hit red the fall I'd been dreading at the top of the cliff would be the last thing I'd experience excepting of course the nasty and probably excruciatingly painful impact with the ground below. Speaking of the ground... I cast a glance downward, noticing that I had drifted low enough to have to dodge between some of the taller trees, and saw that the ground was flat and hard packed, no good for landing at my current speed. Somewhere in the not-so-far corners of my mind a voice started gibbering and throwing panic at the coherent parts of my brain, terrified of the height I was currently traveling at now that all my adrenaline had been expended. I told that part of my brain to shut up and do something useful, blocking it from my notice for a while. Looking ahead I noticed a clump of tall trees that were bowed towards each other as if supporting something between them, their leaves looking sickly and yellow. Something must have killed them, and reasoning that dry, dead wood would be more impact friendly than ground or live tree, I aimed myself at them with an effort of will and attempted to slow myself down by moving the micropressure zones supporting my slightly further back than they had been, turning my "wing" into more of an airbrake.

Pressure dragged at my legs and tail, as they were violently pulled away from the remainder of my body, until my spine got with the program and pulled everything back together again. The trees were still approaching at a remarkable clip, and I did everything I could to slow myself further, up to and including stretching out my jacket and trying to use it as a sail of sorts all the while praying that I would survive what looked like yet another head on collision for the day. The denuded tree branches reached out for me, their dark bark hiding whatever was in the middle of the group as I flew straight at them. Branches whipped my face and shoulders, brittle wood shattering as I suddenly flung myself through them and onward, leaves getting caught in my hood and hair, my tail snarling in the newly broken branches behind me and generally screwing up and decent look it had while scratches and scrapes appeared on most of my exposed skin. I flew into the group of trees, narrowly missing at thick trunk and slamming straight into a thinner one that promptly broke and fell over directly onto me, slowing me even more until I slid into a sort of bowl made of branches between all the trees, pinned beneath it.

I may or may not have blacked out for a second, no doubt do to the rather numerous head injuries I'd sustained over the past couple of days. I was still breathing heavily though, so I might have just lost a few seconds remarking that I was still alive, albeit stuck beneath a hunk of dead wood and dangling near the top of several pine trees without a way to the forest floor. An improvement over before, really.

It took more energy than I thought it would throwing the dead bough of pine away, and as I stood brushing myself off and panting even harder, something niggled in my mind, something wasn't right...

I glanced up: blue sky. I glanced around: dead pine trees. Odd, but not entirely deadly. I looked down and...

"Oh, shit."

Black feathers still fluffy with youth littered the bottom of the nest I was currently standing in, each of them easily the size of my arm. Whatever birdie lived here, it was too young to travel far away or for very long, and was likely on it's way back now. It was also probably too young to live without adult supervision, which meant...

_SQUAWK?_

Which meant that I was in some deep, pterodactyl sized bird-shit. I slowly looked upward again, careful not to make noise. I stopped when I met its eyes.

I was gazing straight into the curious face of a baby Nevermore, its eyes still white with red pupils, indicating that it was only a few months old. Just learning to fly probably, since their eyes became fully red once they left the nest and staked out their own territory. I filed this information away an drew my borrowed sword, cursing myself for losing Battlewing to that scum. One quick surprise spear thrust under its conveniently exposed beak and into the the brain would have saved me a ton of trouble.

The skeletal head of the Nevermore twitched sideway, too big to be called birdlike but too jerky to be anything else, looking down at me with one eye in curiosity. I tried hard not to look like food by raising my sword above my head, and using my Wind to make my blue coattails billow outward, as if I were fluffing my feathers at it, a sign of dominance. The birdie wasn't impressed, and it hopped down into the nest, making all the trees around shudder and quake.

I gulped unintentionally, going face to face with monsters does that to me. Nevermore were much bigger than you thought they were, even a youngling like this was easily twice my size, and would quadruple in size at least before leaving the nest. I controlled my rapid breathing, only just realizing that it was getting away from me, and settled into a fighter's pose, my shield spiraling out and locking into place. A loud, almost metallic sounding shriek echoed across the sky, catching Birdie's attention and tilting his head upwards. Another reverberating call, shredding my ears and causing tears to erupt from my eyes in pain, delving straight down my ear canals and squishing my brain, this one not a discernible sound but an energy wave filled with malice and hate. Mommy was coming home, and I knew I'd be dead the instant she saw me, paltry sword or no.

The young Nevermore opened it's beak to call out, exposing the underside of it's throat as it did so, and I struck. I launched myself forward with my Wind, moving faster than humanly possible and held my sword ahead of me in an icepick grip, like an enormous knife. Just as Birdie began to scream a reply, my sword passed through his vocal cords and out the back of it's neck, shattering the bone ruff surrounding the head and stopping the call almost before it had begun. What emerged was a strangled croak, still louder than a drum at a rock concert, but not a warning to my presence. The severed head bounced up the side of the nest, Nevermore blood spraying from the stumpy neck and suffusing the air with an iron smell, and I frontflipped over my sword, kicking away from the twitching carcass of the dead Nevermore with another burst of wind. While in the air, I sheathed my sword and shield, doing my best to look as inconspicuous as possible, deflecting myself of the side of the nest and snagging an overhanging branch, then neatly sliding over the edge of the nest and into the darkness below it, knowing that if I ran now the adult Nevermore was liable to see me and give chase, not caring to mourn it's dead offspring. More likely it would chase me longer, hoping to kill me and destroy something man made along the way in retribution for it's child's death. Grimm are like that, once they get into a rage they seek out things made by man and destroy them, or worse seek out men and women to fight.

I sat on a branch under the lowest, thickest part of the nest and stayed as silent as possible, praying that the Nevermore would fly off in search of me so that I could slip away unnoticed. I went over the strike against the young Grimm, replaying it in my head over and over. It was a strange way for me to fight, I decided, not like I had fought during the Tournaments. There, I had stood my ground, trading blow for blow, using my litheness and athleticism to dodge and deflect blows before striking back. Here I had distracted my target, going for a single, killing blow when it couldn't defend itself, and then getting out of the killing zone as quickly as possible. In and out, with my target dead in less than a second. For all intents and purposes, I'd successfully assassinated the Grimm, instead of my normal straight fight.

I frowned and shrugged, but filed my thoughts away at the same time. This bore thought, if it made a good strategy I should use it more often, but now was not the time to ponder it. I felt a darkness gathering around the trees I sat in, and curled into as small a space as possible, hidden in the darkness and the quiet beneath the nest. Downdrafts suddenly buffeted the trees, ripping smaller branches and leaves away, making the nest sway and quake until it shuddered and settled onto one side, a huge weight forcing one end of the nest lower. There was a shuffling of giant feathers, a squawk, and then suddenly silence.

Then it screamed. The Nevermore screamed in rage, in blinding lividity at whomever had dared to kill it's chick, the scream hammering its way into my ears and blinding me, blood seeping out of my nose and ears as it continued. The nest above me jumped upward, and my head tried to split along my ear canals as furious pressure zones buffeted the treetops, the Nevermore's great wings lifting, flying away to spill its rage on the forest and its inhabitants.

I shakily stood, hidden under the nest and unnoticed. Time blurred and my breath became spastic, veins roaring, limbs shivering like gelatin in an earthquake, and I quickly sat down on my branch, head between my knees.

Holy crap.

Holy crap, a Nevermore. Fully grown, able to rip armored Dust transports apart with one of it's two talons, beak big enough to swallow five of me at once, and still have room for a Beowulf or three.

I sat on my branch for a long time, just trying to regulate my breathing. Maybe it was a long time. I couldn't really tell, but the forest around me was unchanged when I lifted my head and gazed around underneath me.

I'd done something stupid, just to save my own hide in the heat of the moment, but killing that chick had been bad in the long run. Now every student in the forest was in jeopardy, because of me. I didn't much like some of them, but damn if they were still people. They didn't deserve to die because of me.

A freaking Nevermore. The most baddass of all common Grimm, the top of the food chain, in a Rage because of me.

Well, at least that meant most of the littler Grimm would be running for their homes about now. That should make the remaining way a breeze, unless I get caught by Momma bird. I decided to let the past be the past, and brushed myself off, beginning to gauge a way to the forest floor as I did so. It wouldn't do to be late to the party after I got hung up here, although after traveling so far so quickly before, I doubted that I'd be in any real trouble. Jumping from branch to branch, springing off boughs, and twirling around horizontal branches on my way down, I soon reached the vacant, pine needle covered ground. Along with the pine needles were some things I'd rather not mention, although they were unable to miss. Lets just say, the ground under the nest had suffered badly from it's upstairs neighbors, especially when something they had eaten upset them.

Pushing my way past the crusty mounds, I let the meager underbrush surround me, it's green cover exactly what I was seeking right now. The sun was still high in the sky, and it's position let me know which way I needed to head, so I broke out into a ground-eating shuffle and extended my senses around me, eager to make a partner with almost anyone after that ordeal.  
I would still punch Cardin in the nuts if I met him, though.


	6. The Dark Hunter

**I'm a dick. I'm a horrible author, I'm a terrible human being. I'm SUPER SORRY! I haven't updated in almost THREE MONTHS. THAT'S A FOREVER TO SOME PEOPLE. Anyway, I am AT LAST, PROUD TO ANNOUNCE, CHAPTER SIX IS UUUUUP!**

**Chapter Six: The Dark Hunter**

Seriously, where the hell IS everyone? I'd been jogging through the forest for at least twenty minutes now, and so far had yet to see anyone, although the traces of their passing were easy to see. The smoke rising in a column behind me testified to at least one battle gone wrong, and my anxiety was growing by the second. I hoped to hell the Nevermore wasn't swooping around eating everyone... I might just feel guilty enough to fess up to enraging it if someone died. Just thinking about it again made my pulse increase, sweat erupting from my palms and a lead weight settling back down into its home in my stomach.

_Snap out of it, Damian! Deal with it now, deal with repercussions LATER!  
_Ok, so I was still headed towards the ends of the forest, away from the cliff. Likely there were only a few people in a front of me because of how fast I'd traversed the first three quarters of the way, which meant that only the fastest or smartest were ahead of me. This though cheered me, because I hadn't really though about what it would be like to be paired with a weaker partner. There were a few specific people I would hate to be paired with... Although to be fair I hadn't seen them fight at all. Green leaves and black bark blurred past me as I accelerated through the foliage towards my destination, eyes and ears open for any sign of life.  
Or, you know, anything that wasn't a Grimm or Cardin.

Running through a forest is not as easy as movies make it out to be. I was constantly having to watch my feet for gnarled roots or low bushes, and sometimes even the grass was thick enough to trip me up. Dodging through tree trunks as tall as the spires in the Beacon courtyard, jumping deformed shrubs and ducking dead tree branches made for extraordinarily slow movement, whether I was running or not, and for once I was incredibly grateful for my lithe build and tail since they made balancing so much easier than it would have been.

When I finally came to a large clearing though, I stopped. It wasn't so much as a clearing as it was a place where the forest just stopped, with absolutely no trees or shrubs covering the pale yellow grass for a good half a mile. The woods began again on the other side of the opening even more thickly than they did on this side, and if I ventured into the open I was sure to be seen by something that wanted to rip my face off. I though of the Nevermore flying above and shuddered to myself before casting a glance around the trees and wondering what else they could be hiding. I'd heard there were Beowulfs in the forest, as well as Ursa and a few other types, but with a wild area like this there could really be anything. Still... I needed to get to the other side, and standing around wasn't gonna do it. So, I decided I'd try to sneak across through the grass, hoping I wouldn't draw undue attention towards myself in the process. I knew I could defeat almost anything one on one, but I'd still rather not have to try, you know?

I crouched and began to crawl through the tall grass, the blades tips just reaching over my head this way. Crab walking forward, I moved into thicker and taller grass wherever I could and slowly made my way across the plain praying not to be noticed.

I heard a snort. Then a exhalation of something big. Something nearby.  
Big lungs means big things, bigger than me which is almost always daunting. In the grass about ten yards away a form suddenly stood up, black fur and bone crests assuring me it was a Grimm, although with the brief glimpses I was receiving through my nebulous camouflage I couldn't tell what species. Drawing my sword an inch at a time for fear of making any noise, I settled even lower and prepared to fight if it made the slightest move towards me.

The creature snuffled around, a muscular arm coming into view, black fur bristling in a slight breeze. I caught the smell of dank fur and musty breath, along with the dry grass the thing had been resting on. The creature inhaled mightily, then made a low whine while exhaling, stretching out it's back legs, their reversed knees marking the creature as a Beowulf. I gripped my borrowed sword in an icepick grip with my right hand, my left forearm covered in my gauntlet raised in front of my chest.

The Beowulf hadn't seen me, or heard me. The wind was blowing the wrong way for it to have smelled me hiding scant yards away. It had no idea that I was there. I watched in silent awe as it curled back up into a ball, lowering to the grass for another nap. The sun was high in the sky, and it would be most active during morning and dusk unless disturbed, which I had no intention of doing. Beowulfs slept in packs, not in a dogpile or anything, but close enough that if I moved for a kill I would risk awakening an unknown number of them to fight. Once the Grimm's breathing returned to low levels and faded from my hearing, I continued crab-walking towards the other end of the clearing. Halfway there now. Now three quarters. I was almost to the treeline, drawn straight as an arrow across the ground when I had the shit scared out of me.  
"What are you doing?"

"Gah!" I stumbled around in the shorter grass, head swiveling around in search of the voice. I ended up sprawled on my back with my sword drawn across my body, hoping to defend myself in such a bad position.

"Dude, are you ok?" The voice laughed before asking "Did I scare you?" I still couldn't find the source of the voice. Slowly sitting up and sheathing my sword I cast my gaze around once more, settling on a gap between two trees set under the dark canopy of the forest.  
"Where are you?"

"Not over there. Care to guess again?" The smugness emanating from the sound made me scowl and I quickly got under cover of the trees before asking again.

"Seriously, just come out. I don't have time to mess around." Just like that, a form appeared next to me wearing black and silver clothing and a wide smile.

"The hell?"

"Sup. I'm Schwarz."  
"...Damian. Nice to meet you, I guess."

"So, we're partners now?"

"I guess so."

"So, what were you doing walking like someone kicked your penis in?"

"I was trying not to wake anything that might be out there. I'd rather not fight if I don't have to, you know?"

"Oh come on, there's nothing out there! I'd have seen it, believe me. Sounds like you tortured yourself for nothing!" Schwarz laughed again, not unpleasantly but annoying all the same. I buried my trepidation in the back of my mind, trying not to judge. I was stuck with him anyway, I would have to either talk to him or get used to it, and now was not the time to talk.

"Well, you never know. Grimm like to be sneaky. It's not like - "

"No, really, a Grimm would have a hard time sneaking up on me, I promise you. Look, I'll prove it!"

"What? No!" Turning his head towards the open fields, Schwarz took a deep breathe and then shouted.

As loud as he could.

"SO, HEY! SNEAKY GRIMM! HERE I AM, PLEASE EAT ME NOW!"

Turning back to me with a grin on his face, he started to laugh at my expression, but stopped with wide eyes when he heard the growls. Sure enough, when I looked behind him, the Beowulf I had snuck past was up, staring directly at us, along with seven friends sprinkled here and there among the grass. Their combined growls vibrated along the air, snaking down my ear canals and attempting to ignite a primal fear of thing that wanted to eat my insides, which I quickly squashed. Bared fangs matched up with bone ruffs, red eyes with dried blood and spiraling patterns and markings. Schwarz looked shocked, his hand reaching for the haft of something held in a small sheath along the small of his back.

Almost comically, the Pack held completely still while a breeze blew across the field, the swirling grass the only movement while we surveyed each other. Then of course, all hell broke loose. I quickly drew my sword, Splinterstorm spiraling out into a shield while Schwarz did a complicated looking triple backflip, spinning a pair of Tonfa with what looked like Dust-Pistols and Dust infused blades embedded in them. The Grimm charged en masse, and after that it was more imprints of movement, glimpses of fur flying through the air, and my shield singing as I flew through the battlefield than actual thought. With Schwarz behind me, I flipped over the first Beowulf's wild swings, kicking it in the back of the head and sending in sprawling at my new partners feet. With my sword in an icepick grip I ducked the next Grimm, simply slicing it's stomach open as it flew unprotected over me. Two down in one smooth motion, I turned to face the rest. There were three left, Schwarz rolling through the air with his arms and legs straight against his body, one of his tonfa firing red Dust and the other embedded up to the handle in the eye of a rapidly disintegrating carcass. The other three Grimm leapt at me in a group, one from each direction, so I jumped straight up, sending a blast of Wind down below me. The force of my jump buffeted the Pack, causing them to be looking down when I came back down behind one of them. It's left leg, then right arm flew away from their truncated stumps, and a quick stab through the bone ruff sped up the mortification immensely. Two left. Schwarz somersaulted over my head, both tonfa back in his grasp, before throwing one like a tomahawk and braining the Grimm closest to standing up. He landed in a roll that went right past the other Beowulf, where he swept an arm out and knocked the Grimm directly into my path. I took it on my shield, throwing it to the ground before Splinterstom's spinning blades took care of destroying it's chest cavity.

Schwarz and I glanced at each other, both liberally covered with quickly evaporating bloody gobbets, and shared a quick grin. We'd destroyed a good twenty foot circle of perfectly good grass, with my Wind and his explosive Dust, but damn if we didn't make a pretty good team. I only hoped that our other two teammates would fit as well into this growing little group.

"Was I hallucinating, or is your shield made of spinning blades?" I chuckled a bit, before showing him Splinterstorm. The four blades that made up the face of the shield had locked back into place after I sawed through the last Grimm's body, but I showed him how they unlocked and spun, before spiraling back down into a gauntlet.  
"Dude, that's awesome! Why didn't you improve your sword though? You're obviously proficient with it, but I feel like you're kinda limiting your range a bit."

"Actually, this is a borrowed sword. Mine was stolen on the way here, so Ozpin gave me permission to use the forge before it gets swamped with students fixing their broken equipment. I'm going to make a new one, that comes with a few... surprises."

"Do tell?"

"Ah ah! I've gotta finalize a few things first, and make sure an idea I have is doable. Mechanically, it should be, but for me to wield it would require some skill in an area that I might lack." "Now you got me curious. Come on, a little hint?"

"Think 'blender', but also a spear."

"I can't even imagine those two things together."

"Good! It should come as a surprise to an enemy as well, then. Anyway, was I seeing things, or did you do a triple backflip while throwing an unbalanced tonfa like an ax, and still hit your mark? Dude, that's some serious skill."  
"Well, you know what they say. Our weapons are a part of us, yadda yadda. Personally, I'm just skilled with these types of weapons. More so than most, which is why I chose them."

I shrugged, before we both sheathed our weapons and glanced skyward. The sun was still high, but sinking, so we quickly oriented ourselves and continued on towards the ruin. Running through the forest again, I noticed how lithe and balanced Schwarz was, sliding under branches and leaping brush as if he'd been running in the forest since birth. I could tell why too, it was as evident as my own tail and ears. Mostly because it was those, except they were a wolf's, not an otter's. Schwarz was a Wolf faunus, his tail marked black and silvery grey, just like his clothes. My ears were a lot smaller than his, his hair could never had hidden their peaked tips. His cocky grin revealed larger-than-average canines and his eyes seemed to lightly reflect in the shadows of the trees.

I couldn't help but cheer in my head, since my own birth, called by some an accident of animals, would definitely get on most people's nerves, but here I had a teammate, no, a partner that was also a faunus! Things were looking up, indeed.


End file.
